Homecoming Hill
by TreeStar
Summary: ZoLu.Winner of 10 awards: Best AU, Drama. In a mansion with a long bloody history, countless vanished people are trapped. Inside, Luffy is a feared yet traumatized outcast, a war is waging on 2 fronts, their time is running out, and now Zoro's moving in.
1. No Visitors in Hill Town

Just when you all thought it was safe to skim the new material in this section without stumbling across my Penname-- Here's my new age horror/ramance/drama. This is a ZoLu story, but not to the extreme. It's a mystery first, with the relationship second so it doens't overthrow the plot. In other words there's a major plot here, so it's not _simply_ ZoLu.

--written by Teresa Starr (TreeStar) Ruark--

**Homecoming Hill**

**1 -(Prologue)**

**No Visitors in Hill Town**

* * *

"No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone." 

-- _The Haunting of Hill House_ by Shirley Jackson

* * *

Hill Town, population 1,600, resided in the middle of a lush, beautiful forest. Oddly enough it was on flat land, but was still aptly named as it was surrounded by rolling hills on all sides. 

At a glance, it was a very normal, old-fashioned small town, full of large colonial-style houses the had been built when the town was founded, the youngest of them being over forty at least. The streets were narrow and those that had been paved had not been that way for long. The townsfolk acted normally enough. The children went to school together in the only schools in town -one for all elementary grades and one for middle and high school. The elderly men sat on their porches and read while the women cooked pies for their families and neighbors. The adults who worked plowed the fields for the farmers, for the outskirts of the town were littered in small farms who's crops required constant upkeep. Every Sunday you would find them all gathered in one of the two churches when the bells pealed out from the church domes, signaling the start of the morning services.

In the middle of this town was a large white clock tower that rang out every hour of the day and evening, from six in the morning, to nine at night, when the children all went to bed. It signaled the start of the work day and the time for people to be indoors. People did not wander about at night; even The Tavern and the Corner Store closed early and drunks were home before it became too late.

Those who lived in Hill Town had lived thus all their lives; it was routine, but one they were used to and there were no objections. Families had lived and died in Hill Town for generations. It was very hard to leave once you were there, and the number of people in town had managed to somehow stay about the same throughout the decades.

Visitors never came to Hill Town anymore. Not since all the small vineyards had closed their doors to the public so many years ago. The townspeople had agreed that while the vineyards still sold their product, they should not be open to have strangers coming to sample the wines anymore.

It did not do to have outsiders coming into town at all. They asked too many questions and liked to explore the beautiful lands that Hill Town had to offer. Young people would take walks and hikers would hike through the lush forests outside of the town.

People who lived there knew better, but the outsiders...

No. It did not do to have strangers wandering in town at all. For their own good.

At the end of town -straight down the central street to the end- was a high, sloping hill that stood out because of the huge beautiful mansion on top of it that was so captivating. It was surrounded by what had, at one time, been beautifully kept grapevines, orchards and gardens. The reddish brick drive path was long and very narrow, having been originally created for carriages and old Fords when automobiles were a new thing. It started at the gate and ended in a large circle around a fountain covered in cherubs.

One hundred years ago roses, carnations, various ferns and other colorful flora had surrounded the drive path the whole way up. The Hill had been a goldmine. With enough workers, in one year it produced nigh a hundred thousand dollars, and back then that was like being a multi-millionaire. People would pay a fortune to drink the wine or even walk through the beauty that was Homecoming Hill.

Built in 1913, the house itself was of wood and stonework; firm walls surrounding the various sized and shaped rooms on the inside. Large double doors guarded the entrance to almost every room, including the baths. The floors in the entry were marble and spotless. The halls were many, and always busy. Now, however, while the house stood very firm, the halls were dark and empty, though they still whispered; and the vineyard and gardens had overgrown and supposedly died with the passage of time.

Nothing lived on Homecoming Hill, and it had been thus for fifteen years, though the mystery of Homecoming Hill began more than eighty five years before that. The first sign that something was terribly wrong was marked by the disappearance of an sixteen year old girl.

Nefeltari Vivi was a beautiful, peaceful child with a gentle nature. As her parent's only child, she had lived happily and wealthily in that house with her family and staff whom she treated all as friends since it was built.

Then one day, she vanished without a trace. There was no sign of her anywhere. The grounds were searched extensively and everyone in the town was questioned, but nobody could even deduce for sure where she was last seen. The family was oddly quiet about it. After searching for only two weeks, the family went into mourning and made a memorial statue in honor of her life, and placed it in a large, open area in the extensive garden. Out beyond the stone steps and lowest balconies, it could be seen from every window on the southern side of the house not facing the town.

The rumors became much more intense and a fear settled over the grounds and staff when the gardener's twin daughters vanished twelve days after the funeral. Both had been seen going through the doors onto the third-floor balcony of the second East Wing together in their black mourning dresses complete with parasols, yet when the maid went to fetch them for dinner moments later, they were gone.

Another search was conducted in earnest but there was no other way off the balcony and the girls were never found. Rumors of a haunting spread as another funeral was planned and held, and then the family and staff abruptly moved away from the painful memories, leaving the Hill and Manor alone to wait in silence.

Other people had, of course, tried to take the mansion and vineyard for themselves. The time the house took to claim it's victims varied, sometimes people vanished or died right away. Sometimes it took weeks. Sometimes it never happened before the family left. There had only been two families that had left whole, and they had been frightened off after only two mere weeks.

Sometimes there were just reports of things rearranging themselves, and there being rooms that maintained themselves. One maid reported taking down a portrait of a woman that had been long left behind from one such room, only to find it back the next day and all portraits her own room slashed apart.

But they had always moved out within a couple months due to strange occurrences of some sort. All the while the number of graves and memorials for bodies never found grew steadily larger. Some, oddly enough, even seemed to appear by themselves.

It always started slowly: a disappearance here, a mysterious death there. Finally it got to the point where no one in the town ventured near Homecoming Hill anymore. It wasn't worth the risk.

The mansion could be seen from anywhere in the town, and though this meant the people saw it everyday, it did not mean that they got used to it or were any less wary. Homecoming Hill loomed over the town like a shadow in a nightmare.

People who went up there and _did _come back had never seen a thing out of the ordinary. Most merely got the feeling that they were being watched or followed. Two old men in a tipsy humor who stumbled in together in 1996 claimed to have heard an invisible man ask them politely to leave in the front yard under the dead trees, and though they were reputed drunkards, no one put anything past that place. Therefore, it was believed by the superstitious townsfolk that those who did not return or were never found had probably ventured too far onto the grounds and had run into something that they couldn't deal with.

No one who lives in the town knows what happened to suddenly wake Homecoming Hill all those years ago. Anyone who might have been able to answer the questions the townspeople had with any sort of certainty had been silenced forever. But there wasn't a soul in Hill Town that had not heard voices whisper in the night.

All anyone knew for sure now was that if you stayed in the town and minded your business, nothing minded it with you (aside from nosy neighbors). If you went beyond the gates of Homecoming Hill, there was a good chance you would never be seen again.

* * *

AN: This is a prologue, so it's short. But since the chaptering feature doesn't have a chapter 0 option, I'll just list it as chapter 1 on this site because it's easier to keep track of if I ever have to do chapter replacements or anything. Right now this is only rated M for safety. This will get very graphic in parts. Both traumatic-past-wise and possibly gorey-description wise. 

I hope you like it! I meant to post it earlier... I have the next several chapters done and going through some final plot revisions and then they'll follow this up. And I absolutely SWEAR that I have NOT forgotten RUMBLE! The very next thing I write will be chapter 17 of that.


	2. What Came Before

I recieved a couple questions from confused readers. This WILL BE ZoroxLuffy in time, but more of a friendship than anything lovey-dovey. This place isn't a lovey place to have a love, so there won't be much romancing. **Zoro and Sanji are cousins **in this story, so yes they are close, but not romantically. This has no ZoSan.

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

**_2_**

**_What came before_**

**March 15th 1929**

Lightning pierced the sky over the small town set in the hills. It was three in the afternoon and dark as night.

The flooding in the streets had made traveling difficult at best. Several homes had sandbags stacked in front of the doors to keep the water from flowing into their tiny houses. In such a secluded area as Hill Town, the storm was a huge deal and had been a matter of gossip and great bustling activity to prepare for. Not too much happened here, so even the smallest thing out of the ordinary would stir up the strangely paranoid townsfolk.

But on top of Homecoming Hill, crisis had come in another form.

"Where the hell is that cursed doctor?" A man in his late thirties was pacing back and forth impatiently in the hall outside of the set of large double doors that led to his son's bedroom.

He was a handsome man with deep red hair and a comely goatee. For a wealthy man living off of a great inheritance, he was unusually casual. Instead of the pristine expensive clothes he could be seen in, he preferred the comfortable look. Aaron D. Shanks was a jovial man who loved teasing people and had never found trouble in making friends.

He had an open mind and a patient countenance, and while he found joy in the oddest places, his greatest happiness came in the form of his youngest son. A boy with the utterly bizarre yet fitting name, Luffy.

A born family man, he had been disappointed upon learning shortly after marriage that his beloved wife Makino was barren, but it had not stopped him from loving her. Instead he had found his successors in another way.

Adoption was not a very popular way for a wealthy man to pass on a fortune, but Shanks had never been big on what was popular anyway. His heart was big, and the option seemed perfect for him.

All the same, he had received a great amount of backlash when his heirs had finally been named. He had found Ace and Luffy living off the streets when they were but seven and twelve years old, and had taken a great fondness of them both right away.

When the criticism of his boys had passed its tolerable level according to Shanks, he had packed up his family and headed from the east coast to the west. They had found great fortune in all their homes so far, but Homecoming Hill was going to be special. Everlasting would be the Manor he left specifically to Luffy and Ace when he passed on. They wouldn't be moving again. This would be the home the settled in for the rest of their lives together. They would reopen the vineyard as a special project, and Shanks would be able to spend the what time was left with his sons, before they ran off to wed.

Ace was already twenty two, just the perfect marital age, and Shanks was sure he would be picking a bride before too long. Makino had started going on about how exciting a wedding would be once the vineyard was in bloom again as soon as they'd moved in two months ago. Ace would have no trouble finding someone. He'd always had a way of dominating the scales of popularity with women wherever he went. And then Luffy would be sure to follow shortly, being seventeen already.

But then, maybe he wouldn't. Luffy's mindset was much younger than his brother's; much more naïve and innocent. He was still a small child at heart.

He was also laying abed sick.

Shanks swore again. His pacing increased speed.

Ace, who was sitting in a chair with his hands clasped tightly in front of him, leaned forward. He was very handsome with black hair curling down his neck and a very well-built body that was typically visible through the tight clothes he had a tendency to wear. Light freckles dotted his nose and cheeks, making his smile all the more youthfully characteristic.

Very perceptive, Ace was an intelligent young man, quick on the uptake and even a college graduate -a rarity for the times, especially in this part of the country. Western Oregon was not big with the schools yet. Ace hoped that would change soon, because he felt it would it be nice for his whimsical, imaginative little brother to become further educated in the real world.

But he adored Luffy. It was hard not to. Luffy just had this vibrantly lovable personality, and he in turn loved everything and everyone around him. The only form of value Luffy cared about was sentimental. For Luffy, who had the affection, curiosity, and attention span of a little hand-fed bird, there was no point in having any other kind. To Ace, Luffy was more than just a terrific kid. He was a gift that kept him going through the darkest points in his life. In the time before Shanks had found them, while they were living on the streets, Luffy was his reason for waking up and trying each day.

Abandoned to starve in the alleys of New York as a child, but a fighter of fate from the start, Ace had returned one winter night to find Luffy huddled in a corner of the half-burned down appartment building he had nomadically claimed as 'home' two weeks before. It wasn't a dog like Ace had wanted, but it had lost its mother and had nothing in the world. It was scared, it was lonely, it needed something to take care of it, and it had latched onto him within minutes of its discovery because it was cold and Ace was warm and safe-looking. It had been a complete annoyance the first month, and it followed him like a puppy. And it took a four days of frantic searching for it after getting separated from it it in a flood for Ace to realize he wanted to keep it. Until that point in his life, he'd never felt as complete as he did in the moments he'd found it huddled lost on a door stoop, and scooped it close. After he'd taken it 'home' and fed it, Ace had looked upon the one good, beautiful thing still left in his universe, and held the warm bundle of energy against him as it cried its confusion and fear like the little six year old it was, and he'd made a promise. He'd been given this thing to love that would love him back. He was finally needed by something, something precious that was all his if he wanted the job, and he took the reigns with gusto.

When life was hard, this role was his driving force; he couldn't lose or quit, because he had a little brother to take care of. He had an important job to do. He'd been a worthless street rat to the whole world and sometimes still felt like one, but to one person, he was a superhero who could do no wrong. So he could fight, he could scrounge, steal, surrender his pride and beg and even _sell himself _if he had to...and none of it mattered because as long as those bright eyes looked to him like that, he was invincible. And still today, with hands that still reached for him, a laugh that echoed, and a spirit that beamed into everything around him, Luffy was the most amazing thing in the world. And he was theirs.

Ace felt that the world would lose a great wonder if Luffy were to die of Diphtheria and leave his own heartbreak unfathomable, and now he spoke his concern. "Father, the doctor might not be able to make it because of the flooding."

Shanks didn't like this answer, but knew Ace was probably right. After all, they'd sent a servant for the man over an hour ago, and the doctor lived maybe five minutes away once you'd made it down the long, brick drive path.

He sat down next to his son, resigned that they might be on their own through the storm. He could not resign himself, however, to what might come of that. But honestly, what could the doctor do now that he couldn't do three days ago? Luffy had Diphtheria, and Diphtheria had no cure.

After a moment, he spoke. "I should have seen this coming. He's been talking about seeing things in the shadows… hearing crying and such at night. Screaming. He's been acting different since the week after we moved in."

"Don't blame yourself. I should have noticed, too. I spend so much time with him, I saw how jumpy he was getting. Always shaking…" Ace trailed off.

It was quiet for a minute or so.

Shanks leaned back some. "You know… Makino tells me not to be superstitious. She's always saying 'Shanks, you see signs in places that there just aren't any'… but I tell you… when Mabel's son went missing in the woods behind the manor last week… between that and Luffy's behavior…" He paused here for a moment. His eyes seemed to reflect a scene long gone.

"I never told Luffy that Joshua was gone. And I told everyone else to keep quiet about it. He hadn't been feeling well at that point, you know. But I had the strangest feeling later that night after he disappeared. The strangest feeling. I should have moved us out then. That same night."

"Father?" Ace was looking at him, unsure what he was getting at.

Shanks turned to him. "You see, Luffy was saying last night that he'd seen Joshua. Right outside his window, on the other side of the glass. He said his eyes were empty, but that he was trying to tell him something. He kept saying the same thing over and over, like it was so important, but he had no voice."

Ace was looking at him with _that_ expression. The one that said 'don't you even say it'.

Shanks shook his head, knowing what his son was thinking. "It's not just the rumors, okay? They're all just made up anyway. I mean, I've heard everything from the Hill covering an ancient Indian burial ground to there being a lost Egyptian pyramid buried underneath it that swallows souls. I know that rumors can't be trusted. But they also aren't completely unfounded."

"Oh _nooo_…" Ace dropped his head into his hands for a moment before raising it to look at the double doors. _Here we go again_, he thought.

Shanks pressed on, his voice getting a little louder to drown his son's groan. "I mean, is it thirty people that have disappeared or suddenly died on these grounds? If I'd have known that before we moved in I might have reconsidered…"

"Father, Luffy's seen all kinds of hallucinations since he got sick three days ago. Day before yesterday he was telling me there was a woman in a black dress that was rocking a crying baby right there in the room with us, in a rocking chair that _doesn't exist_. He was hysterical about it, pointing in the corner at nothing. They're fever dreams. He's gotten them when he was sick since he was little. I know because I sat with him through all of them. He probably saw a chair in one of the rooms when he was exploring before and his mind made up the rest."

"But why Joshua? Out of everyone he could have seen, it was Joshua. Some five year old kid he'd barely even seen before, and didn't know was even missing?"

"Well, Joshua does live here…"

"But he sleeps downstairs in the servant's quarters and stays with his mother all day inside. Luffy is always outside or in town, he couldn't have met him more than twice. It doesn't strike you as odd at all that he's seeing _this boy _dead?"

"Joshua is the only thing the other maids have been talking about since it happened. I mean, he _is_ her only child. Luffy probably overheard that he was gone. Besides, it's not like we know he's dead..." Ace had to trail off here. He knew how stupid that sounded. A five year old gets lost for a week in wild woods and is still alive? With this forest's track record? Very unlikely.

"But Ace, that's the thing! What he said about Joshua… _I saw the same thing_. At the same time. It's what made me get up and check on Luffy in the first place."

Ace was quiet for a moment, and then, "What are you saying?"

Before Shanks could answer, Luffy's door opened and Makino stepped out. "Aaron, Ace, he's asking for you two."

Shanks squeezed Ace's hands and the two got up and went into the room.

Their eyes fell on the bed where the pale form of a boy lay. He was rather short for seventeen, thin with messy dark hair and blue eyes that stayed bright despite his illness, and had a long thin scar under his left eye, made conveniently by the same blade that had given Shanks the three red scars over his eye. Luffy's eyes opened as Shanks ignored the chair and opted to kneel right beside him.

"Hi Shanks." Luffy never called Shanks 'father'. It had been 'Shanks' since they'd met, and it wasn't about to change now. Luffy managed to put more affection into 'Shanks' then Ace could into 'father'.

Shanks smiled and stroked his hair. "Hey, Anchor. How are you feeling?"

"Like I could outrun a train." Luffy smiled tiredly and licked his cracked and dry lips.

"Oh aye? You look like you've been hit by a train. What are you going to do about that?"

Luffy's smile faded as he sighed. "Get better. Is the doctor coming?"

Shanks sighed himself. "Aye, mate. He's coming. The rain might have slowed him down, but he's coming. We have to be strong."

Luffy managed a nod.

On the other bedside table, Makino was writing something on a piece of paper. After a moment she held it up out of Luffy's vision for Shanks to see.

__

104.8

Luffy's temperature.

Shanks' heart twisted in his chest as his wife left to check the door for the doctor. He was starting to get this horrible, foreboding feeling that this storm… _this house_… would take his boy away from him.

His eyes went back to his son's, which were closed again. He had to do something. Something to give Luffy hope. Hope in case anything happened.

His hand moved to the straw hat on his head. It was a little tattered and worn. Certainly not the type of thing that an ordinary man of great wealth would openly be seen in day after day, in spite of what he was wearing otherwise. But Shanks was not an ordinary rich man.

He'd bought it on the day he'd found Luffy, the same day they'd gotten their uniting scars. The same day he'd taken in the two boys that would later become his own children. It was his lucky hat. And now he took it off his head.

"Luffy, open your eyes."

Luffy did so, weakly.

Shanks smiled at him and ran a hand through his hair again to help keep him alert. "You're going to get better. I know it. And just to make sure…" He lifted the hat into Luffy's vision.

Luffy shifted a little. "Lucky hat?"

Shanks nodded. "Lucky hat. I'm going to let you borrow it. It's going to help you stay strong. It'll bring you good luck and make you better. Even when it gets really dark and hard to find a way out of that hopelessness, this hat is going to lead you back to me. Just like it lead me to you. And then you won't ever have to see evil again."

Luffy smiled and closed his eyes again. "Okay."

Makino poked her head around the corner. "Honey? The doctor's here."

Shanks nodded and started to rise. He squeezed Ace's shoulder on his way out to meet the doctor, and Ace knelt to take Shanks' place beside Luffy and took the smaller boy's hand.

As Shanks rounded the foot of the bed, Luffy suddenly took a deep breath and called louder than he had been able to in days. "I love you, Shanks."

Shanks stopped and looked at his sons. His real treasures. "And I love you, Luffy. I'll be right back."

If he had followed his instinct and gone back to his sons' sides, things might have gone very differently. He left the door open behind him (somehow closing it felt like a bad idea) and walked through the house down to the front door to walk the doctor in and debrief him on the way up, as Makino was terribly shy toward strangers.

He made it just over the outer thresh hold.

* * *

Ace rubbed his brother's forehead, coaxing him to sleep as he always had when he was sick, making the crooning sound he'd made when they were children to scare off the bad dreams. Luffy fought it, but after only a minute, Ace sensed that he'd gotten Luffy to sleep and walked across the room to the table to grab the book he'd been studying.

He had noticed an odd inscription in the garden yesterday, one he hadn't noticed before because he wasn't the type who enjoyed taking leisurely strolls across dead humans. He had been trying ever since to find a language that matched it.

He'd considered asking some of the townsfolk about it, but all that questions regarding the manor's history would earn him would be a town full of people too afraid to speak to him. The townsfolk were odd. They got along fine talking with each other, but the D. family made them nervous, and they refused to talk about the Hill. Even if they knew something about the inscriptions, Ace was sure they would never say.

Something about it felt off. He had wanted to tell his father, but frankly if Shanks knew how eerie Ace also felt about the Hill as of late, he might just uproot Luffy -at death's door or not- and throw the whole family into the Ford tonight and try to get them out of town on no gas and in flooded, unpaved streets.

Shanks was a very paraniod man. He did things on a whim and never took anything on face value. But he had a knock for being right against all odds. For example, he didn't trust banks. He had developed this bizarre idea years ago that the stock market might crash and the banks would lose all their money and the country would go broke any time now. So he'd hidden almost all of their money around their previous property, and sure enough, in 1928, the stock market crashed and everyone they had known lost every cent they had. That was part of the reason that the D. family was beyond rich now: no one else had any money, so Shanks' fortune had inflated to become a diamond mine. Like last time, all of their money was again buried all over Homecoming Hill. 'Buried treasure' Luffy called it.

If Shanks truly had a bad feeling, Ace coudn't dismiss it after his father's foresight of Black Thursday, the day America woke up broke.

It occurred to Ace that it had been a long time since Shanks had left the room. And hadn't he left the doors open…?

Ace walked over and opened the doors again, then went across the hall to grab a little angel statue from one of the hall tables with which to prop the door open. It was so strange that Ace hadn't heard the heavy doors close…

As he began stooping to place the statue down his eyes glanced to his brother's bed of their own accord.

He did a double take and dropped the statue, which shattered into pieces loudly on the wooden floor.

"Luffy?" he whispered.

It was the last thing he ever did.

* * *

When Makino and the doctor made it upstairs alone, the room and hall were empty.

Luffy's bed was undisturbed, the straw hat resting on the pillow.

The angels on the hall tables were all accounted for an in perfect condition.

The chair Ace had been sitting in beside Luffy's bed was pushed in front of the desk again.

And Makino never saw any of the three again.


	3. New Arrivals

**Homecoming Hill**

3

_New Arrivals_

* * *

_"Through me the way into the suffering city._

_Through me the way to the eternal pain._

_Through me the way that runs among the lost._

_Justice urged on my high artificer._

_My maker was divine authority;_

_The highest wisdom and the primal love._

_Before me nothing but eternal things were made,_

_And I endure eternally._

_Abandon every hope, ye who enter here."_

**-Dante's Inferno**

**Present Day-**

Roronoa Zoro was jolted out of his nap when the car he was riding in hit a bump.

With a bit of a grumble, he turned a sleepy glare on the driver of their little bright blue Volkswagon Beetle. "Sanji, who the hell are you racing? Take it easy."

Zoro's blond cousin who didn't look a bit like him rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault the road's rough. We're out in the middle of the land God forgot…"

As Sanji spoke, Zoro twisted in his seat a little to see if they were disturbing his little sister. But Kuina was sleeping soundly.

Sanji glanced at him and then in the rearview mirror. "Relax. She's out cold. She's eleven years old, they can sleep through anything. I know: I've been waking her up every morning for school for the last year now while you worked at the hotel."

Zoro grunted and settled back down.

Sanji yawned.

Zoro gave him a glance. "Do you want to trade with me? You've been driving for two hours now."

Sanji smiled in amusement. "Now that we're almost there? Gee, thanks, coz." He raised one arm to grab the head of his seat. This position sometimes helped him stay awake during drives. "No. We'll be getting into town soon and I don't even want to imagine the nightmare you'd make out of trying to find the right driveway in as old a town as Hill Town's supposed to be."

Zoro frowned. "I'd be fine…"

"Zoro, you used to get lost in the house you were raised in. How can you even think you'd be able to find your way through a completely strange town?"

"I didn't get lost in my own house!" It was true that Sanji was exaggerating, but not by much…

"Shh! You'll wake her up."

"You're the one who said she slept like a vampire during the day."

Sanji shot him a weird look, "I am nowhere NEAR as crass as you are."

"Hmm." Zoro noised in a way that would neither admit defeat or start an argument.

It was quiet for a few more minutes.

Then Sanji leaned forward a bit. "Hey, check it out."

Zoro opened his eyes again and looked out the windshield.

There it was. Hill Town. Their new home.

Because he and Kuina were step-siblings, Zoro was the only son and the heir to a large fortune. His father had developed the Spades and Diamonds resort chain -now one of the most successful there was in business on the east coast- from the ground up. He was a truly amazing and inspirational man.

Until he died in a fire four months ago with Kuina's mother.

Now Zoro's Uncle Zeff, Sanji's father, was running the resorts for Zoro as a sort of CEO until he inherited the business at twenty one -in two years. Having had worked with Zoro's father for so long, Zeff knew best in this case and Zoro trusted him completely.

Sanji had lived with Zoro and Kuina for two years now while the boys went to college. Zoro had studied history for two years, and Sanji studied languages and foreign cultures (and minored in culinary arts, strangely enough. He loved cooking). Sanji had also studied religions extensively. They'd been on their own in one of the houses owned by Zoro's father for that whole time, their parent's living their busy lives elsewhere like so many rich children's did. After his father and her mother had passed on, it had become increasingly hard to just continue normal life in the same place they always had while waiting for their parents to come home and visit. It had started to feel like they would always be waiting, living a lie. Zoro had had an especially difficult time coping with the loss of his father, visiting the cemetery almost every day to talk to him.

But now Uncle Zeff had entrusted the boys with a great responsibility: to take Kuina and evaluate this piece of property his father had purchased thirteen before he died. Incidentally the last wish he had voiced was to expand the chain across the west coast, and this mansion, Zeff said, might very well be a wonderful start. It's location was nowhere special, but from his family's experience in the business, all you had to do to change a place from a boring old town to a thriving tourist-filled money-hole was create something special and advertise it.

Find a place with potential and build a better mouse trap.

_If you build it, they will come_. Zoro mocked that creepy movie line.

Still, Zoro had a feeling he knew the real reason for this trip. They needed it to get over the death of their parents. This was a new start. A new place to live. If it worked out, they wouldn't be moving out of it, even if it did become a resort eventually. For the next few months at least, it would just be them. It would be a nice change from the pace of the city, and a fresh routine to get into.

In this case, the foundation was already set. From the pictures he had seen, the vineyard his father had purchased had a lot of potential, structure-wise. It looked strong… but the land around it was a wreck. It had looked almost charred black. Mind you it was only a frontal shot, but the back couldn't be much better.

Nevertheless, Zoro and Sanji were here to inspect the manor and deduce how much effort would have to go into making it the most astounding vineyard on the coast.

Zoro had the feeling right away that he'd have a hard time giving up on this one, though. It was his first big job, to bring something so deserted as 'Homecoming Hill' and 'Everlasting Manor' -as they had been christened- back to life. They had to make this house a home. Seeing life in dead areas and beauty in ugly things was something Zoro had quite the eye for, truth be told.

"Want to wake her?" Sanji asked, indicating to the back seat with his head.

"Let her sleep. It still looks a little far out there. We'll take wake her when we're closer. She'll need her energy then to help us unpack."

Sanji frowned. "You know, for someone with a sister complex, you sure do like to act like you don't spoil her rotten."

"Shut up." Zoro returned simply.

This was one of Sanji's annoying _things_, insisting that Zoro had a complex about his little sister. Just because he insisted on meeting any new friends she made before she could go over to their houses, and just because he was a little overprotective and ready to beat the crap out of those two other little girls who were making fun of her, and just because he made sure she was in bed on time and bought her treats and clothes whenever they went out.

Please. As if any of that meant he had a sister complex. Sanji had no idea what he was talking about.

They drove past a sign that read 'Welcome To Hill Town -Population 1,600' and Sanji slowed his speed some as they almost instantly entered the residential area of town.

_Geez_, Zoro thought, making a face. The town just sort of went from seeming far off to being right on top of them out of nowhere. And it looked mostly deserted. A few people were walking on the sides of the road, but it was so quiet…

Zoro had to wonder where everyone was at two in the afternoon.

"I guess everyone's in the fields working, huh?" Sanji asked. This was after all a farming town. The information about the town surrounding Homecoming Hill had said that the people here raised their own stock, grew their own food, bred their own meat. "I mean, I guess that makes sense."

"Hm," Zoro shrugged and turned a little to call behind him. "Syd! Hey boy! Wake up! Wake up Kuina!"

Upon hearing his name, the sleepy little purebred Jack Russel Terrier wagged his tail and lifted his head up to look at his owner.

"Wake up Kuina, boy!" The little dog, having no idea what was being said to him, started to get excited. He stood up a little without any real balance in the moving vehicle, and climbed over the small girl in the back seat in an effort to get into the front.

"Ow! Sydian, no." Kuina was pulled rudely from sleep by the excited little dog as Zoro laughed in the front seat.

"Hey sleepyhead, take a look out the window."

The brunette sat dazedly to look outside. "Is this Hill Town?"

Sanji drummed on the steering wheel. "Yep."

"Man, it's like a picture book…"

It was true.

As they drove down the road observing the buildings, they noticed that every house was old. Old in design, but carefully kept restored. Some houses were colonial in design. Others more closely resembled cottages, and a few were simple log cabins.

There were a few telephone lines going down this street (the main street, no doubt as it was the only one that looked like it had been paved five years ago or so). No sidewalks could be seen. No crosswalks or stop signs of any kind were anywhere. Wagon tracks ran out of sight down the roads they passed up, giving the impression that cars were not really a major source of transportation here.

But then why would they be? Everything was so close together.

There was a fabric shop, right next to the only small grocery store in town on Merlot Way. A furniture shop/carpenters with a rocking chair and a dollhouse in the window was a little ways down the next street they passed, Zinfandel Drive, and there was what looked like a Blacksmiths shop next to that, and then a leather store.

Sanji was barely rolling along now. "What do you want to bet these people make their own buck hide and sell it?"

"Hey, there's a gas station." Kuina had rolled down her window and was sticking out of it from the shoulders up.

It truly attested to the look of the town when a gas station that was on every corner of the rest of the world stood out to them here.

Zoro looked in the direction she had to be looking in. There was a gas station way down at the end of Brandywine, but… "It looks deserted. Bet it's the only one in town."

Sanji was curious as well. "It's probably all they need. They maybe have a truck come down once a month and refill it?"

People were starting to come out and gather on the street a little now. Some of the clothes looked hand made, but it was obvious that there had to be a clothing store of some type in town someplace. Probably no more than one though, judging from the unvarying styles. Bright colors weren't very popular here. Most people wore earth tone colors and dressed modestly. Kuina wouldn't be big on that idea at all. She loved to stand out.

In the file on the town that they'd gotten when Zoro's father had purchased the property, it said that there were two churches in town. One Christian and the other Catholic. Zoro had no doubt in his mind that the people from these churches had many heated religious debates in this town, and it would explain how they all seemed to be competing for modesty.

Other than the few more modern (barely) attributes like the gas station, everything looked so historical.

"This town could be a national landmark. It's like time forgot about it."

Sanji shook his head. "Don't be so dramatic, it's not that old."

"This town has been here for more than a century, Sanji."

"Yeah, but look. They've got indoor plumbing. They're wearing normal clothes. It's not like they dip their own candles and make their own soap or anything. The wineries actually make this town a lot of money."

A hay cart was coming down the single lane that Sanji was rolling down, and he had to pull over to let the driver get past them. The man on the cart watched them curiously as he sped his oxen by.

Sydian barked in the back seat. Kuina settled him down. "Syd! Shhh, come here puppy! It's just a cow. That's all. Just a cow. You've never seen a cow before, have you?"

Sydian was not quite a puppy, but at two years old he was hardly a mature terrier yet. He was very jumpy and wiggly and loved to run everywhere, dig, and roll in the dirt. Hence he was usually kept inside when they were in the city, and the kids hadn't gone into the country since they'd gotten him.

Zoro scoffed, following the ox-cart man's departure in the side mirror. "So they're rich? Not from tourism, that's for sure."

"Well, not rich per say, but they've got more than enough to get by here and pay the outer world to stay away. It's a small town. A small town is like living on an island. You're cut off from the rest of the world. There's isn't another town around this one for a forty mile radius, and then the ocean is twenty miles west. So if these people, and us now, want something that isn't provided in town, we really have to travel out of the way. Not everyone can do that all the time so the town depends on itself to survive. They don't see outsiders often, I'd bet. These people don't know what's going on outside these hills, and I doubt they care to find out."

There was a stone circle filled with flowers built in center of town. The road they were on, Cabernet, wrapped around it on either side to join on the other side and continue straight. Sanji drove around it and continued straight.

"Crap-geezer was saying something about how every person carries their own weight here. They all do their job, and the money from the winery cycles through the town and they manage just fine. But look at this place. Seriously, the historical look of the town alone could bring more tourists than these sleepy people would know what to do with. Maybe this job won't be as hard as we thought. I sure hope the Manor we're going to is in good shape…"

Zoro nodded.

Kuina turned to her cousin. "Where are all the wineries?"

Zoro smiled. "Wineries are pretty big, Sprite. They've gotta be at the end of some of these roads, back up behind the trees some."

"Probably," Sanji agreed.

"Which one's ours?" Kuina asked again.

Zoro picked up a hand-drawn map. "Well… we're on Cabernet now. And Cabernet dead ends into a cul-de-sac at the Homecoming Hill driveway. So if we just keep going straight it should lead us right to it. So…" he leaned forward and pointed straight ahead, "It's gotta be that one."

Kuina fell back in her seat as Zoro shuffled for the photograph. "Wow. I knew it was big, but…"

Sanji took a deep breath as well as the approached the end of the street. "It's an eye-opener and no mistake. Bet it's a pain in the ass to keep clean…"

Kuina frowned a little, "It needs flowers."

Sanji laughed. "Easily done. Good thing we have you here. A woman's eye for design will be so much better than meathead's here."

'Meathead' didn't answer. Looking at the manor now, he was starting develop a strange new feeling about it.

They were at the foot of the drive path. It was made out of red brick, something that Zoro found intriguing. Sanji put on the brake and turned to Zoro. "You got the key?"

"Yeah." Zoro got out and jogged to the gate over the drive path. A huge black chain with a big lock secured it closed, and as Zoro struggled to get it loose, he had to think it was overkill. He understood the desire to keep looters away, but geez…

The house had supposedly gathered furniture and a few personal belongs over the years from previous owners. This was what they planned to use upon arriving, actually. Though they had their own clothes and personal trinkets and such (Sanji had his own personal kitchen set…), the lawyer they'd spoken to about the property before they'd left had assured them that everything else they'd need would be there already.

Zoro pulled the chain off the iron gate fence. It weighed a ton. Zoro was inclined to leave it open through their stay just so that he wouldn't have to deal with it again, but he wasn't sure how the others would fly with that idea…

As he was pushing open the swinging gate so that Sanji could cruise past him, he got a sudden and strong feeling that he was being watched. Not from a distance, mind you, but from really close up.

There was a sound in his ear like loud raspy breathing and he turned quickly toward it.

Of course there was nothing to be seen. …Of course. But the sound was real. And it hadn't gone away. Hadn't moved at all. He wasn't sure what it was, but he _swore_ that something was standing there… face inches away from his own, _staring straight back at him_. And he couldn't see it.

Sanji's honking snapped Zoro's attention away from… whatever the hell it had been focused on, and he turned and got back into the car that was now beside him.

"Hey, ya okay?" Sanji asked, eyebrows crinkled in a smile that let Zoro know that he was trying so hard not to openly laugh at him. "I called out the window three times and you just… _stared_ off at nothing."

"Fine." Zoro answered bluntly. "I heard something."

"Yeah, so did Syd." Kuina was in the back trying to pull the dog's head back through the window. He'd started barking like crazy as soon as Zoro had opened the gate.

_We've been driving too long_, Zoro thought. _Don't lose it too early, Zoro._

Still, that had been a weird sound. A creepy feeling, even.

As they went up the drive path they all looked out the window at the land that was their new property. While it wasn't barren soil by a long shot, it was still very dead-looking. It was covered in weeds and dead bushes of all sorts. The many trees of different sizes were bare and looked especially skeletal. But Zoro could see with his imagination how nice it would look if they planted new grass and trees and had maybe a couple of dogs running around. He could easily see that this place had been amazing in its day.

Kuina's jaw was on the floor in the backseat. Why had no one in her family come here before now? Where they all completely insane? She could have a horse now! She'd always wanted a black stallion and now maybe her dream could come true!

They approached the top of the driveway and saw how it curved into a narrow ring in front of the wide cement steps that lead to the front doors.

The bricks in the drive path had been tenderly laid and it was almost eerie that they had not even been disturbed by weather in all this time. The same could be said for the bricks in the house. Still so new looking… as if they'd just been laid.

They could now see that the fountains overgrown with dead vines that dotted their way around the courtyard where the drive path ended were covered in angels and cherubs. The largest one in the middle of the drive was still painted a clean white and showed very little sign of weathering. Trees stretched around the front of the drive path and almost completely blocked out the town below. That would have been their job, had they been in bloom. To seal Homecoming Hill in it's own world.

_It's in it's own world without them_, Zoro thought.

The courtyard was huge, with walkways leading off from the drive bath in both directions. These walk ways had benches and large stone planters and fountains set in the paths and various antique pottery along the sides. Trees were coming up in between them and the three couldn't help but revel in how pretty the Hill would look if these trees alone were alive…

Then there was the Manor itself.

It wasn't huge. Huge didn't even begin to cover it. Zoro had no idea how many rooms were in the manor, he had a feeling no one did. But he would easily guess around three hundred by glancing at it now. At about four to six stories high in different places, the manor was laid in stone, brick and wood. Chimneys jutted from the roof in many places. The house was shaped much like a sharp horse shoe whose arms seemed to reach back forever. With a back sealing them, the manor would have formed a huge, hollow rectangle. The roofs were sharply angled 'V's that had been flipped upside down. Various statues sat on stone pillars near the roof and along the walls out front.

Shutters were all drawn to hold in the cold darkness and keep out the damaging light and heat.

It had the two wings that reached back, four kitchens, two ballrooms, a library, and God only knew how many leisure rooms and bedchambers. Probably around two hundred and fifty. It encased a total of twenty-eight thousand square feet. They'd known all of this in advance, but seeing it… _actually seeing it _made reality set in better.

"This isn't a house… this isn't even a manor. It's a short castle…" The most amazing thing to Zoro was that there was no sign of decay at all. The land was barren and covered in weeds and bead brush and skeletal trees, yes. But the manor itself was in the most amazing condition he could have imagined.

"Uncle said that no one has been up here for fifteen years, right?"

Sanji, who was staring with an expression of the same awe that Zoro felt, could only nod.

Beside his ear, and entranced Kuina whispered, "I can't wait to go inside!"

The boys said nothing.

Sanji rolled around the fountain in the middle of the courtyard and shut off the motor.

"Well, it's… amazing. But-"

Zoro nodded, "But it's _too_ amazing. There's gotta be a catch somewhere."

"Exactly! Maybe it's in shambles inside or something."

"Well, the land _is _all empty and dead." Kuina reminded dryly before she opened her door and climbed out. "This is the coolest driveway."

"See that's my thing!" Sanji said, getting out and pointing to the ground. "It's like no one has EVER driven up here before. There aren't even any cracks in the mortar from previous owners. And that fountain looks like it's just been painted!"

Zoro shrugged. "Well, is there a groundskeeper?"

Sanji just continued to look baffled. "…Dad said no, but…" he seemed to be considering it, and then shook his head. "But like Kuina said, the gardens are gone and the trees are dead. Why would a groundskeeper not _keep_ the _grounds_? Besides, you have the only key."

"Then I guess you're just a freak who thinks too much." Zoro said by way of explanation, and started to follow his sister around the house where she'd disappeared to. "Kuina, wait for us." He was around the house before Sanji could retort in his usual manner (with a good kick in the side).

Sanji, sufficiently distracted, ran after them both.

* * *

The empty courtyard stood in silence again.

A breeze blew dry leaves across the drive path and sidewalks around it leading off into the property. After that nothing moved, leaving the courtyard empty to human eyes. Quiet to human ears. It was still.

Even if they had looked up at the window on the third floor, the only one not currently shuttered, the family would not have seen the group of eyes that watched them with keen interest.

Nor would they have ever imagined the whispers taking place about them at that moment.

_"What do you think?"_

_"Aye, the little girl for sure."_

_"What of the boys?"_

_"…Too early to say."_

_"I hope they come inside soon."_

_"I just hope they don't wake anything out there."_

_"Do you- do you think they might be the ones?"_

_"…"_

* * *

Having no idea what kind of scrutiny they were under, the boys continued chasing their young charge. Syd had taken off the moment the door had been opened and she'd run after him.

"Kuina, stop running! Let us catch up!" Zoro shouted after her.

As he rounded another corner, however, what he saw made him stop in his tracks.

It was completely the opposite from the front yard. The land behind the house was like stepping through a dimensional portal. Everything was alive! Not just alive but overgrown!

Grapevines grew tall and green in rows that stretched for about 50 aces in plain few, and then through the trees Zoro could make out probably another hundred and fifty beyond that. A babbling creek could be heard nearby the house, somewhere off to the left, Zoro thought, and an orchard spilled out of the center garden which had just come into his view.

Sanji suddenly slammed into him from behind, having not been watching where he was going.

"Woah! Sanji watch it!"

"Yeah, whatever," came the distant answer.

Zoro really couldn't blame him for being transfixed, though. The garden amazingly colorful. At about one by three acres, it filled the inner ring of the house from wall to wall. Flowers of all different colors and types were in bloom. Ferns flowed over the stone walkways. A beautiful white gazebo was standing near the orchard. Swinging benches hung here and there from the few tall trees actually in the garden, though some had been taken by the vine plants over time. There were two quiet fountains separated by about an acre each. And a statue of a young woman, a teenager maybe, stood right in the center of it all.

How could all of this have survived the ages… when the front property was so barren?

"Are you sure there's no groundskeeper?" Zoro whispered again.

Sanji didn't answer.

"Zoro! Sanji! Come here, Syd found something!"

Kuina's voice pulled the pair back to her, and when she stepped out from behind the fountain to wave to them, they started making their way down the paths to her.

"Whadja find, Sprite?"

"Syd found it," She repeated, stooping down near the ground as her brother and cousin arrived to hold Sydian away from the thing in the dirt he was barking at.

Sanji got down beside her and lifted away the leaf of a fern… only to drop it again when he was what was under it.

"Step away from it." He grabbed Syd around the collar and hefted him up into his arms. "It's just a dead animal. Probably a rodent. Are there any more?"

Kuina shook her head. "But that's not the only thing. Look what Syd had his mouth when I came up." She held a dark red string of beads with a crucifix aloft for her cousin to see. Her brother seemed to have found something to distract him, because he was making a beeline for something behind them.

Sanji took it. "These are rosary beads. They're used in several different religions in different cultures as a emblem of prayer. Something physical to touch and pray on when you need more than just open air to cling to. They're also present in some religions for things like marriage or funerals or religious holidays. Stuff like that. This one's Catholic because of the crucifix."

He handed it back to Kuina, who was looking at it with interest. She was young and still easily amazed. She loved learning new things, and both of the boys' chosen majors interested her. She felt that the studies of history and foreign culture crossed paths so often they could be one subject combined. They seemed to depend on each other heavily. She enjoyed it when the boys teamed up to teach her things, because she learned more than what was on the surface.

For example: Zoro could explain what happened in Germany in WWII in various areas of the country and how it effected Japan and Russia, and Sanji could then explain what the Nazi's believed and therefore why they had acted as they did. It was fascinating.

"Sanji."

Sanji and Kuina both turned to Zoro, who was stooping some distance away looking at something, himself.

"What's up?" Sanji rose from the ground and climbed over an oddly-shaped rock to his cousin. Then he stopped abruptly at what he saw.

Zoro didn't look up from where he was holding another fern leaf away from the ground. "I think I found your catch."

There was a headstone beneath the fern, and more on either side. Suddenly suspicious, Sanji turned to behold that the rock he'd just jumped over was a grave marker as well. He hadn't been looking for them before, but now that his eyes drifted across the garden with this new knowledge, Sanji saw that there were stones of varying shapes and sizes hidden all around them for acres.

"They're all over." Zoro confirmed.

Sanji was quiet for a few more seconds before whispering (because it suddenly didn't seem appropriate to speak in a normal voice anymore…) "How convenient the lawyer didn't mention this. How many do you think there are?"

"No idea. Maybe just the ones we can see, but I wouldn't be surprised to see that they fill the whole garden. Must be a family cemetery. Probably has different plots for different owners. This place is really old, after all." Zoro spoke logically, but in his skin he had that weird feeling again.

Kuina reached up to pet Syd. "How did they die?"

Zoro shook his head. "I don't know Sprite. They don't say."

Kuina was curious. "It's kinda neat. Like a mystery."

Zoro smiled. He agreed with her. History was a mystery. There was just so much that had been lost, and so many that had been forgotten. Trying to find those secrets was what Zoro loved about the subject.

Graveyards were fascinating to Zoro. And perhaps it was because he had spent so much time lately talking to his father in one, but he was much more comfortable here than, say, Sanji was right now and he knew it. As much as Zoro loved to tease his cousin about being a wuss when he really wasn't, if Sanji honestly freaked out for real before they were even in the house, that wouldn't be good. Funny for about five minutes, but it would last much longer for Sanji and no one wanted that.

"It might be neat, but not necessarily safe. This whole place is hollow ground."

Sanji groaned.

Kuina became more curious. "Hollow ground?"

"Yeah. I don't see any dates, but these headstones around us right now have a very old design to them. If they're really so old then it meant that the coffins used back then weren't exactly up to snuff like they are now. The wood's probably rotted and weak."

Kuina didn't get it. "So what does that mean?"

Sanji ran a hand through his long blond hair. "It means that if the coffins are deteriorated than there are a bunch of empty holes in the ground. The ground is hollow. And if the ground is hollow, then it could give and we can sink into it."

"We could sink into a GRAVE?" Kuina looked horrified.

Zoro stood up. "It's alright. It won't happen to us if we just stay near the trees. There's too much plant life in the soil keeping it firm. It's more likely the coffins have been pushed up by the roots. And not all of them are that old. Just the ones around us."

"How can you tell?" Sanji frowned. "You can't read them from here."

"I don't know how I know. I just do. And some look way more modern than others. But I think it's interesting. A cemetery in the garden of a mansion on a hill that no one has set foot on in over a decade. Poetic, really."

"Creepy as hell, you mean! Damn, Zoro." Sanji suddenly wanted a cigarette badly, but with the dog in his arms he couldn't light one up.

"What? It gives the place some history, and…" He remembered the sound he'd heard and the feeling he'd gotten by the gate twenty minutes ago. "And it kind of explains things."

"Things? Like why the hell no one has wanted to live here for years?"

"For starters."

Sanji rolled his eyes. His earlier apprehension was dissipating now that he'd been aware of the situation for more than two minutes. "Well, it explains why the dog's freaking out so much." Syd was barking fluently again.

Kuina looked at her brother, "Can we go back to the car? I don't want to see a coffin."

"In a minute." Zoro was entranced.

Sanji frowned disbelievingly. "Are you sure they're really headstones and not just decoration? I don't see anything written on them, they're all blank." It occurred to Sanji that this was strange, and he looked around again to be sure before blurting out, "They're ALL blank! How are they all blank?" He started to pet Sydian, who was growling at nothing again. Probably a new smell.

Zoro's eyebrows knitted in confusion. _All of them? _He'd thought it was just the ones he was next to, But damned if Sanji wasn't right. There wasn't a word on a single stone in this garden. But they WERE headstones. Of that, Zoro was certain.

"Yeah, they're gravestones, alright," Zoro nodded, moving to brush leaves off another one. "I'm sure of it. Though, I don't know why they're blank. That doesn't make sense, they don't look weathered… Still," he traced his fingers over another smooth surface, "this is like a dream. It's so… not what I expected to find here." Then he turned back to his sister. "But then I expect we'll be finding that a lot today, huh?"

Kuina was starting to look more creeped out than curious. "You mean we should 'expect the unexpected'?"

Sanji turned on him. "A dream? This is the creepiest fucking _garden_ I've ever been in in my life." he said, making sure the word 'garden' was sarcastically emphasized. "We've got the dog, so we are going to go back around front now so that we can actually go inside the house. C'mon Kuina. Zoro, move it."

Zoro drew back a little inside at Sanji's lack of respect. "You know, you really shouldn't say things like that here."

__

You might hurt someone's feelings. …You might make something mad.

He couldn't speak these thoughts out loud. Sanji wasn't a superstitious person like Zoro was, and he didn't need to give his cousin something to gloat about.

But the feeling he regarded the dead with was not an uncommon one. It was a feeling that most people got upon entering an old graveyard full of strangers. They didn't know anything about these people's pasts or what they're deaths might have been like. That's why kids made dares for their friends to spend the nights in them, and mentioning of taking a shortcut through them on the way home was spoken of in a more hushed voice than a loud shout across the basketball courts. It never really felt like an especially good idea to any normal person to walk into a graveyard and start insulting it or those buried under the very soil that supported their weight.

Unfazed, Sanji didn't even slow down. "Are you coming or what?"

Zoro pushed himself up. Despite his curiosity, he didn't really want to be left back here alone. As he started to follow them out, he couldn't help but think about how out of place this area was on the Hill. That a graveyard would be so close to the house was odd. Also, Zoro was sure that it hadn't always been buried beneath the flora, but for there to be such an explosion of life back here when nothing grew out front was really convenient. Zoro wondered what had caused it.

A bunch of death all hidden beneath a pretty garden of life.

But there was something wrong with this one. Graveyards were usually colorful, cheerful places. They were meant to be calming for mourners. A pretty place to lay out your deceased family. Zoro had gathered this over the many times he'd visited one to talk to his father. This was colorful, sure, but it didn't have that peaceful, calm, _restful_ feel that the others had. This one felt… awake.

There was no explanation for what had happened to these people, for what had happened in this Manor. It was wrong. Incomplete. Just like history always was. And Zoro suddenly knew that there was more to this garden -to this Hill- than anyone really knew. In dealing with history of any kind, there was always more to the story, and the story was different depending on who you spoke to about it.

He got the strangest feeling just being on this Hill. Why were there so many headstones?

Something had happened here. A long time ago. Something bad.

He wondered what there would be to find in the manor itself. He wasn't sure if he should be excited or afraid to find out.

Still, not everything about the garden was creepy. A few of the stones had given him a kind of warm feeling. Perhaps it was _because_ he was so sure that his father could hear him that he now felt like having conversations with dead people was not so ridiculous as others believed, but that was when he decided that he would come back here later. If they would all be staying on the Hill together, then it would be polite to introduce himself.

Just before he reached the end of the garden, he turned sharply.

He held still like that for almost a full minute, but nothing happened. Now he was starting to feel stupid.

For an instant, though, he could have SWORN he'd heard a voice whispering back where he had been stooping two minutes ago.

But it was just the wind.


	4. Presence

Many thanks to Ahja Reyn, my awesome beta reader for this story.

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

4

_Presence_

* * *

"There were so many, she thought. Unhappy presences filled this house wherever she moved. Even now she felt that, if she opened herself, she would come upon many more of them." 

-- _Hell House _by Richard Matheson

* * *

When Zoro got back into courtyard, he wasn't surprised to find Sanji and Kuina unloading their daypacks from the car and Syd on one end of a leash that was also wrapped around the side view mirror. They were ready to go inside and figure the lay of the land. He didn't know why they were bringing their stuff. They'd have to come back for the rest later anyway. 

Zoro went to the trunk and unzipped his own day pack, pulling out his flashlight. That was all he walked away with. He decided he would wait to grab his things until he'd actually found a bedroom he liked, because he had no idea how long that could take and he didn't want to cart his clothes around with him until then.

"You got the key?" Sanji asked for the second time they day, except it was never a question. A lot of Sanji's questions were orders in disguise. For example 'have you got the key' really meant 'use the crap-key on the crap-door so we can go into the crap-house'.

Zoro went to the threshold without answering him and unlocked the elaborate double doors, pushing one open afterward. He clicked on his flashlight and led the way into the entry.

As he'd expected, it was almost totally dark. With the shutters drawn almost no light was coming in except for by way of front door. Sanji pushed the second door open as Zoro looked for a light switch, though he already knew…

The lawyer had said that as people moved onto Hill over the ages, the manor had been expanded upon with the electricity updated in the 1950s, and eventually some indoor plumbing in the late 60s. The switches would be found on the walls like in any normal house in most of the manor, though some of the bedrooms used lamps instead. The wiring was old, however, and had gone unused for a long time…

Which was why Zoro wasn't a bit surprised when he found a switch and flicked it a few times and nothing happened.

"Well," he called back, "Power's not on."

Sanji sounded only mildly surprised as well. "Weren't they supposed to have it on when we got here?"

"It's old. Or maybe they're late. We'll be fine."

Kuina looked hesitant. "So what do we do?"

Zoro walked out into the middle of the huge entry. "Grab your flashlight."

Kuina groaned.

"I'm sure it's not like this throughout the whole house. Don't groan."

The entry was a good three thousand square feet. Huzzah. The floor was black and white marble that still looked as if it had just been polished. The ceiling in the entry was vaulted and reached up the entire length of the house. But there was a large staircase that would lead them up to any of the six floors beyond the entry that they desired to go to. On the ground level there were halls leading off in various directions, and all doors that they could see were sensibly shut.

After looking around for a minute or so, Kuina piped up. "Where do we start?"

Zoro waited for the two to make their way across the open expanse toward him. "I think we should start on the bottom and work our way up."

Sanji pulled out a cigarette. "That would be convenient if we were starting at one end and working our way around, but we're in the middle. Also, it's already five o'clock. I'm not sure we'll find supplies like left over toilet paper and shampoo and cleaning supplies under some sinks, but I need to get to the grocery store so we'll have something to eat tonight, and we need to find our rooms so we can get settled. Exploring has to wait until tomorrow."

Zoro nodded. "I guess that's true. I don't want to explore without some real light anyway. Where are you planning to drop those ashes?" He asked without turning around when he heard the click of a lighter.

"I've got a plastic bag. Cool it, Zoro. I don't want to burn the place down, either."

"Where are the bedrooms?" Kuina asked.

Now Zoro clicked his tongue. "No idea. Here, I've got a key in my pocket."

"Another key?"

"That thing the lawyer gave you?" Sanji snorted. "You'll need it…"

Zoro ignored him and unfolded a piece of paper. It wasn't a map by a long shot, but it categorized different areas of the house, first by wing and then by floor.

West 1 - Ballroom, Gym, Pool, Etc.

West 2 - Drawing Rooms, Studios, Bedchambers.

West 3 - Bedchambers.

West 4 - Bedchambers

-------

East 1 - Ballroom, Library, Theatre, Etc.

East 2 - Studios, Workshops, Gallery, Chapel, more.

East 3 - Bedchambers.

East 4 - Bedchambers

It seemed that the wings, unlike the rest of the house, only had four floors. Possibly with wine cellars beneath them and a couple attics overhead.

"That doesn't look like a key to me." Kuina said skeptically.

Sanji smiled, "It's not that type of key. It's a legend. And not a very good one."

Zoro looked up in both directions. "It'll do for now. The East Wing has fewer bedrooms… and the West Wing has a gym and a pool…"

"Then we're going east." Sanji decided.

"Why east? West has chambers, too."

"Exactly. When we open this place for visitors, we'll open the wing with more bedrooms first, and we'll still be living here. We don't want to be on the same side as all that, and when I take a room, I like to keep it. We actually need to find three decent ones that are close to each other in the next hour, so east from the get-go is the more logical choice."

Zoro frowned and grumbled.

Sanji rolled his eyes and started up the stairs. "Oh, shut up. You can play in the gym in the morning if you want, but we need something for tonight at least. Now c'mon, I don't know what hours the grocery store runs on, but something tells me it's not a 24 hour convenience."

"I want my own floor!" Kuina insisted, running up the steps behind him.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Zoro said mirthlessly, following as well. "As if we need you getting into bounds of trouble in some lonesome area of the manor. You stay with us, Sprite, at least until we're familiar here."

"Can I look more tomorrow?"

"You can look all you want. We're staying as a group for the first few days at least. Then we'll go find the best rooms for us."

Sanji guided them up another flight to the fourth floor and hit the switch. Light flooded the hallway. "Hey, now." Sanji grinned. "We've got some power after all. Wonder what's up with downstairs."

"Old wiring, like I said." Zoro answered, knowing he would be ignored because Sanji had the coherency of a fruit cup. But it was strange how he didn't hear a hum of electricity. Especially from a setup so old.

They started walking down the hall. Sanji called back to Kuina, "You know, you might find that the first one you find is the best one there is, so don't pick anything assuming there's something better. Everything's in new shape so far, anyway. I'm eager to see what's in the rooms."

Zoro laughed. "Did you just call yourself meager, because really, it's about t-"

"EAGER! Crap-guy…"

They were in a hallway, closed doors lining the walls around them. Some had plaques for names, but though they looked new, there wasn't an inscription on a single one.

Kuina got on her tiptoes to take a better look at one. "Why do all the doors have little gold label-things on them without any labels? It's like an office building except none of the doors have executive's names."

"I don't know, Sprite. Maybe they've worn down over time." Though they looked pretty new.

"At least the halls are labeled. I can't believe there's a house big enough to need labels on the different halls. This place must have been quite the tourist attraction." Sanji called back from where he was still leading the pack. There was a carved wooden plaque reading East Wing 4 hanging on the wall where the hall sharply turned right and led deeper into the manor.

They went up three steps and entered a new sort of area that was pretty, sure, but felt a little odd to Zoro. Not unwelcome, just not quite right.

"These are bedrooms?" Kuina said, moving to open one.

"Think so," Sanji answered.

She opened the door and shined her light inside, hunting for the light switch. She found it at about a three foot reach from the door. The boys followed her and stopped in the doorway.

This room was odd. The rest of the manor was in such amazing condition, like new. But this room was different. It didn't look aged, but it was demolished.

It was a young boy's room. Or had been. The carpet was torn in long streaks, as though someone had taken knives and just gone to hell on it. The walls were in much the same condition. The wallpaper was slashed and falling. A broken mirror lay on the carpet, still in the shape it had once held, an old baseball on the floor beside it. Brown and white pictures of famous shots in baseball were framed and hanging on the walls. They were in great condition. Any collector would give their left arm for the collection. The bed was unmade and rumpled, but there was no dust settled anywhere that the three could see.

Sanji whistled low. "Damn. What the hell happened in here?"

"Really…" Kuina agreed softly.

Zoro clicked his tongue. "Doesn't look like any of us will be staying here…" he murmured.

Sanji kept looking at the furniture. It was all free of dust, which was strange considering how long it had been untouched. "Look at these pieces. They must all be hand carved. They're mint!"

Sanji had a thing for antiques and art and architecture. Zoro didn't understand how anyone could be captivated for hours by staring at a cluster of trees, but Sanji was such an elf.

"Come on, Sprite." Zoro put his hand on Kuina's shoulder to guide her out of the room. Sanji followed after a moment, closing the door behind him.

"You think we'll find much of that?"

Zoro frowned. "What, rooms thrashed to shreds that you can drool over like a clod? I hope not."

"Fuck you, dipshit. I meant the art. Like the furniture and stuff. That four-poster bed was amazing…"

Zoro groaned at his cousin's unmasculine inanity. "Probably. The paper from the lawyer says there are galleries in the West Wing. Go stare that those tomorrow."

Kuina opened the next door, walked in and instinctively reached for the light switch, flipping it on. A simple chandelier hanging from the ceiling flickered and turned on, bathing the room in yellow light.

It was an old woman's room, from the look of it. There was a high backed chair sitting in the corner, an unfinished knitting project nestled into the seat of it. The walls were covered in a yellow floral print, and the furniture had a more factory made look to it. Not like the baseball room. It smelled like their grandmother's house, and had about the same type of welcoming feel.

It wasn't someplace any of them were going to choose as a room personally, but Zoro sort of trusted the feel he got in this room more than the one he gotten in the baseball room, or even in the hallway.

"Huh." Sanji opined elaborately.

Zoro rolled his eyes and continued down the hall, the others trailing behind him.

He really didn't want to keep opening doors. Especially since he had no idea what would be on the other side. Not that he couldn't deal with whatever it was, but he didn't want to expose Kuina to anything brutal or scary, and this whole house just somehow felt like it took the expression 'skeletons in the closet' way too literally.

There was always a sort of thrill to entering a place that no one has set foot in for so long when you have no idea what you may find. But there were too many dead people in the garden for there not to be a feeling of foreboding lingering in Zoro's mind, and flinging open all the doors in a house that had been undisturbed for so long just didn't seem like a… safe?… idea.

"This way."

Zoro looked up sharply toward the voice. The hall was a little echo to it, but that hadn't sounded like his cousin. But it had belonged to a young man, and it sure as heck hadn't been Zoro...

Zoro had been about to ask Sanji what the hell he was whispering for, but turning to see Sanji in a new room made him reconsider. His whisper wouldn't have echoed down the corridor if Sanji was in another room. And Kuina had followed him. The two were acting like they hadn't heard a thing.

"Zoro."

He heard it clearly over his family's jabbering in the other room. It was still whispered, but it was as though he'd only heard it in his mind, where such things could go unobstructed. It had sounded like it was spoken out loud, but Sanji was still by some fancy painting and Kuina was testing out a squeaky bed. They hadn't even looked up.

Zoro started to walk down the hall toward the voice. It felt like he was in another world, and he may well have been because in this house, it felt as though _he_ were the one out of place. Not the voice.

But it didn't sound dangerous or ominous or deceitful in any way. Maybe it was only his imagination, or his subconscious was making up an excuse not to search in any more of the turbulently different feeling rooms in this wing, but Zoro followed the voice.

The hall ended in a flight of spiral stairs, and he walked down them.

The farther down them he went, the more of a comforting feeling he received. He wasn't sure what was causing it, but going this way was right. He knew it. Every sense he had told him so.

When he reached the 3rd East Wing at the bottom of the stairs, the hall was already well-lit. He wouldn't need to flip the switch, because every light along the walls and those hanging from the ceiling were already in full, white luminescence. If this was strange, Zoro didn't notice. It felt so natural for it to have been aglow already.

This wing looked just like the one above it so far. The rooms were so large that all of the double doors were set widely apart. Centered between each of these doors was a small table, bare save for a different angel statue standing atop each of them. The walls were white, the doorframes gold, and the carpet was crimson with a large fleur-de-lis print.

"Over here."

Again the whispered voice came, and again Zoro followed. As he looked around him at the various angels and identical doors, wondering where the voice was coming from, something flashed in his peripheral vision. Just a wisp of something, like smoke from Sanji's cigarette, but when he looked more fully there was nothing.

Of course there was nothing. The hall, for all respected conditions, was empty.

It was that sixth sense, the one that biology refused to accept, that told Zoro it wasn't. Much like at the gate before, he somehow just knew that there was a presence near him. Not looming or threatening or crowding his personal space, but waiting patiently. Docile.

_So are attack dogs around the right people,_ Zoro weighed cautiously._ It doesn't mean anything for me._

And Zoro could tell that this presence was strong. It had power. What kind, he wasn't sure, but it was definitely there. Still, Zoro seemed okay. This whole surreal deal had too much effort put into it by the Other in the hall. He had to believe that if this particular presence had wanted to do something to him, It would have done so by now.

Zoro couldn't choose to pretend denial. To decide that something just wasn't really there at all because anything else would be _illogical_ wasn't an option. He may have imagined the vision, but he'd heard the whisper. That was evidence enough to Zoro that It was real. It knew his name. It led him here.

Why?

The only way to find out was to approach the door that he suddenly felt inclined to approach. He knew that being part of a situation so obviously against nature and reality was wrong. But was something so supernatural beyond the realms of cognitive truth?

After all he was already aware that something bad had happened here before. Something uncomprehendable to the living mind might, after all, render a supernatural result. We wouldn't know, would we? Telepathy doesn't _exist_ either, unless two people happened to fall in love with each other instead of the million other choices in mates they could have picked. Or the sixth sense that tells you when you're being tailed or watched. None of those _existed_ because it could not be carded or catalogued or defined to a definite limit of ability. Yet, defying all reason and explanation, they are.

Zoro moved forward again, and stopped in front of a set of chamber doors in the middle of the hall. The knob turned easily and the door swung open to reveal a room that was already lit, though Zoro couldn't see by what. There was what had to be a large window, but the thick crimson curtains were drawn over it, sealing out light and making it hard for Zoro to know the window was even there because it blended in with the wall so well. There were two shaded bedside lamps, but it couldn't possibly create the all encompassing light that the room was shrouded in. The whole room was equally bright, as though the source of light was the room itself.

It was beautiful. Simple and sweet, yet still very _characteristic_. The walls were a deep burgundy with a few nails here and there for hangings to rest on. They were bare now for the most part. The simple furniture setup in the room left plenty of open floor space. There was a big four poster bed centered against one wall, and a large hand carved desk on the opposite wall, complete with chair. Another lamp with a red shade sat at the top of it.

There was a wardrobe in the room, a full bookshelf, and two bedside tables, each with a lamp shaded in red. There was a large painting hanging above the desk that Zoro was drawn to look at closer, but before he could walk in the door--

"Zoro!"

--he spun around to see his cousin and sister jogging down the hall to catch up with him.

Good. He wanted them to see his room. It was perfect. Like it had been made for him.

"-the hell did you run off for?!" Sanji was demanding. "Fuck, Zoro. We were opening doors up there left and right and all the while you're down here playing Agatha Christie in the deserted mansion!"

"What's in that one?" Kuina walked up to her brother as Sanji leaned against a wall and dramatically lit a Fag of Exasperation.

Zoro smiled at her. "My room," he answered turning back to look into the room that was now pitch dark.

Kuina looked inside. "How can you tell?" she asked curiously.

He pulled out his flashlight and moved over to the red lamp. He couldn't expect the light to return by itself, or be as bright, with the others here. He had no idea why it was, but it seemed that he was the only one that noticed the presence's existence. And It seemed to want to keep it that way.

Was it that the presence was withholding Itself from them on purpose, or was there something special about Zoro that had caused this?

...Oh, but as potentially exciting as the thought of being some sort of psychic was, Zoro knew that the reason he alone had heard It had nothing to do with his own amazing lack of telepathy. The presence had called his name specifically to show him this, knowing that only he would hear, and now he couldn't feel It anymore. Of course that didn't necessarily mean It was gone. He had a suspicion that It was still nearby watching.

Well, if It didn't want the others to know It was there then he wouldn't argue with It. He wasn't about to go telling them about something that wasn't planning on making Itself known to them.

The lamp clicked on with a pull of the dangling chain and red light filled the room.

"Looks like a death scene in the theatre drama," Sanji opined from where he was now just inside the door.

"It's just the lamp shade." Zoro lifted it off and the room was better lit, but the walls were naturally red, so Sanji was only slightly appeased.

All the same, even he had to admit, "It's a nice room. How'd you know it was here?"

Eenie meenie miney mo

The tiny thought planted itself in his mind and took root with mischievous intent.

"Eenie meenie miney mo," Zoro said.

Sanji actually laughed. He could just see his stone faced cousin standing in a hall trying to decide which door was right. "Is that the way you find your way around? No wonder you're always lost!"

"Shut up! He who laughs last thinks slowest, and I don't see you with a room yet. And don't you dare smoke in here. Seriously." Zoro wasn't about to admit that Sanji had just prodded a sore spot.

"Zoro, Sanji!"

The boys walked out of Zoro's claimed room and followed Kuina's voice down the hall to where she had vanished into another room already.

She was sitting on a bed and looking very excited. "Look how pretty! This room's mine!" she proclaimed.

Sanji nodded approval, looking around. Zoro grunted his own agreement.

It was a blue room with more bookshelves and decoration than Zoro's room had. It had definitely been a girl's room. The frames on the wall all held photos of various people. They were in color and had a newer sheen to them. Zoro also noticed that a few of the faces were blurred here and there. Always the same faces in the same clothes. It was bizarre.

There were also notebooks on the bedside table with a first edition of _Salem's Lot _by Stephen King, so whomever had owned this room last had done so in the past twenty five years or so at most.

The last feature of note was a drawing desk. That was an interesting attribute to a young girl's room because most people liked to have drawers in their desks. He couldn't find a desk with drawers.

"Hey Sanji, what's that?" Kuina was pointing at a framed character that was hanging over the door inside.

"That's an Asian word." he answered. Sanji only had about nine culture classes and five language studies under his belt from his mere two years in college, but even Zoro could recognize that the character was Chinese.

"What language is it in?" Kuina pressed.

"Japanese," Sanji answered.

Zoro pursed his lips. Oops. Ehh, it wasn't his field anyway.

"What's it mean?" She kept asking. Kuina had a necklace of almost every little profitable character trinket she could buy. If she didn't know this one, then it meant that it probably wasn't 'love' or 'prosperity' or 'luck' or anything like that.

"Something water-related. It has the symbol 'sui' in it. Tide, or _Wave_ I think."

Kuina smiled. That was neat!

Sanji started out of the room. "I'm gonna find my own room. If you've both got one in this wing, it'd be best if I keep hunting here. Seems like the families that last stayed here actually had normal lives."

"How would you say it in Japanese?"

Sanji tossed the word over his shoulder as he left the room: "Nami."

------------

Zoro and Kuina had gotten their luggage out of the car and dropped it on the courtyard so that they could take the Bug down to the grocery store before dark. At first Zoro hadn't wanted to go, but when even Kuina had wanted to see the town up closer, he knew he wasn't ready to be up on the Hill alone yet.

That was how they all found themselves in the Corner Store, picking from the limited selection of home grown and butchered goods. Sanji was both excited and distraught about it all.

The man behind the counter had started talking to them in earnest as soon as they'd entered. Zoro had asked questions and the man had been eager to answer them thus far.

"How do you all handle being so far from the outside world?" Zoro asked a bit into the conversation.

The man laughed and spoke in his hard country twang "Aww, 's not as bad as all that. 's how we lahke it. We're used ta it aroun' here."

"Hmm," Zoro answered. "Any town taboos we should know?"

"Not too mehny. Jes' don't go inta them woods. Them woods is dangerous, all full of wolves and such. Every year at least one poor soul gets lost in 'em and we never see 'em agin.

"So, whare ya from?" The man behind the counter asked them, genuinely curious. "'s rare to see strangers in these here parts."

Zoro looked him up and down. He was a very strange man from what he could make out. Long skinny legs supported a heavier ovular torso. He wasn't too old, probably in his fifties somewhere, but his eyeglasses held the thickest lenses Zoro had ever seen. They made his green eyes enormous. Zoro thought he resembled sort of a bug. Still, his accent sounded Southern, so maybe he had moved here later in life.

"South Carolina. My family's been there for generations. Since before America was founded."

Kuina came bounding up, "We just moved into the mansion on top of the Hill!" She sounded so excited. Zoro smiled.

Tweedle Dum, however, went from smiling at them to looking at them like they had just told them they all had terminal illnesses. "Oh… oh… oh dear." He sat moved out from behind the counter to sit down in a chair propped against the wall.

"Hey, you okay?" Sanji had come back over to put a bag of groceries on the counter.

The man looked up in shock as if he was the one acting normal and the rest of them were the ones to looked like their dog had just died. "Has no one told you young'uns yit?"

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Told us what, c- guy?" Sanji said with this usual lack of respect for commoners, but managing to withhold the title he usually gave strangers.

The man looked around as if making sure that no one else was around, even though he knew very well there wasn't, then he leaned forward and whispered "That Hill…" he looked around him again before leaning in even further and making his eyes go wide. "_It eats people_. It has a magic spell on it, it does. Put there bah the Greek Gods."

Zoro and Sanji gave each other a look that said "Looney", then looked back at the man. Even Kuina looked skeptical.

The man must have noticed. "Ah swear it. Have you seen the graveyard yet? The one behahnd the house?"

This recaptured Zoro's attention.

"Well, there ain't a single body in a'one o' them graves. Them stones is jes' memorial plaques. Ya know why? 'cause ain't never thare been a body to bury, tha's why! Disappayr'd raht afer'n they dahd. Now some folk around here'll try ta tell ya that them blasted Injun spirits done took 'em. Now ah admit ah haven't lived here most o' mah life, ah lived with mah Mama out in Kentucky, but ah tell you what mah daddy done told me before he died. The Hill _ate 'em_. Because o' the spell it hadta. Nigh a hundred people have disappeared up on that thare Hill, so if'n the Hill didn't eat 'em, whare'd they go? You tell me that."

"A hundred people?" Sanji was back over by the spices. "You realize the manor's not even a hundred years old yet, right? And people haven't lived on it constantly. And even then there's no way more than thirty people have died there. That garden would be completely covered in headstones, and with the growth there's not enough room for that many plots. People wouldn't simply cram headstones in there for the heck of it without plots. That's not how we do things. And why would the Ancient Greeks put the spell on a random plot of land on our west coast when the known world hadn't included America yet?"

The man didn't seem flustered by any of these valid points at all. "Ah didn'n say the Greek people did it. I said thar _gods_ did it. They knew about the land _because_ they were gods. Besides, they don' all have gravestones in that garden. That's a family cemetery, and it's evil. Why would we want ta put a grave for arr people up on that thare Hill? But that ain't even the point. The point is that place is dangerous, and ya oughta be careful, better yit stay in Charlie's motel tonaht."

Zoro was very tired of listening to the man go on about this all of a sudden. "Thanks for the advice, but we're already picked the rooms we'll be in tonight."

It could have ended there, but Kuina was not so bored with the man's prattle. "When was the last disappearance?"

The man smiled a little at her, because she was the only one who seemed interested in his warning, and sat back a little. "Amber Lynn McClouski was five years old when it happened to her last year. Her older cousin Karen was with her and her friends, walking aroun' that side o' town when she done got separated. Now she was small enough ta fit through the gate fence, and some locals saw her runnin' on the Hill and cried out fer her, but it was lahk she didn'n even hear 'em. When yer on that Hill, 's like outside sound doesn'n reach you. That Hill's in its own world. In its own world away from us, and yer trapped thare in it.

"Anyways, they ran fer th' sheriff when they saw her thare, but no one ever saw her agin after that. After that no one much goes to the end of Cabernet anymore. Sometimes thare be boys who go up on dares to touch the dead tree out front. The big 'un. Some said that thare was growlin' and another said he was done pushed off the land by someone he could'n see. People have been touched by the ones that are up thare. Anyway, about seven months ago a pair o' boys on a bet went up and did'n come back. Jonah Arker and Matthew O'Neil. They was fourteen. Thought they were all that an' a bag of Jefferson's Jerky."

Zoro yawned. "Why would a spell only take some people and not everyone then?"

The man seemed afraid to speak now, so he leaned forward again and whispered "No one really knows why, but ah think that those people what disappeared did something to test the power of the gods. Said something challenging, or did something really unholy up thare whare the gods could see 'em, an' they was punished."

Zoro had to wonder what kind of blasphemous act the man thought a five year old could have committed. But he wasn't about to ask, because he actually didn't want to hear the answer.

The man was still jabbering on. "By then, though, no one much had hope fer them that disappeared. Search parties stopped goin' ages ago. Thar parents sure were sad, though. Amber Lynn's still live here. They won't stop believin' that she'll come back someday. Poor people."

Sanji was shocked. "My God! And no one has done anything? Scouted the land for sand traps or poison or something? Dragged the creek?"

"O' course we have! All that stuff. Thare's nothin' to fahnd. The Catholic church had a visitin' priest from Away, a non-believer as far as the Hill went, that decided to go up the Hill to pray and put the lost souls to rest." Tweedle Dum rolled his eyes as though the outcome should have been obvious to any complete stranger who didn't know anything about the Hill. "Never saw _him_ agin, an' that was years ago. But the boys were the last one's to go on the tahme lahne, an' there ain't no way they got gravestones up thare."

Kuina bit her lip. The boys both saw her hand move to her pocket were the rosary beads still were.

Sanji quickly changed the subject. "I think this'll do it for a few days' meals. How much to I owe you?"

The man appeared confused as to what Sanji was talking about for a moment before he stood up and walked over to his counter again. Without any more talk of vanishing people, they were able to escape the store with only a faint "Good luck" from the storekeeper.

* * *

AN: Hi guys. I'm pleased with how this chapter turned out. I'm trying to keep the atmosphere creepy and mysterious, so if you don't feel creeped and mystified, tell me so. 

Interesting note: When written in a single kanji character instead of katakana, 'nami' literally translates to mean 'wave'. (the ocean kind, not the hello kind). That's for those who didn't know and were wondering what I was doing when I incorporated that into the chapter.


	5. Two Warnings

**Homecoming Hill**

5

_Two Warnings_

* * *

_"Because most of what he knew about this silent someone else was simply that it was present in the house, he thought of it as "the Presence." Of course, that the bag and its contents had been moved was all the proof he had of the Presence's existence. That seemed proof enough. The presence had shifted Mark's things, believing that he would find them in their new hiding place, which mean…. that it wanted him to know he wasn't alone."_

- _Lost boy Lost girl _by Peter Straub

* * *

Kuina was quiet on the way back at first.

After a minute of silence or so, she finally leaned forward. "Hey, do you think maybe these beads belonged to that priest that disappeared?"

Sanji groaned and Zoro threw his head back. She didn't actually BUY that guy's mumbo jumbo, did she?

"Kuina, that wacko just told us that Greek gods in Oregon have made our new house _eat _a hundred people. The guy is obviously disturbed." Sanji drove up the drive path slowly and turned off the motor at the top. There was a nice place to put the car, but no one wanted to bother with it today. Maybe even not ever. It depended on how cluttered it ended up being when they finally opened it.

Kuina still sounded unsure. "Yeah, but… the beads…"

Zoro opened his door and started moving for his bags still on the outer threshhold while Syd ran under his feet. "Sprite, those were probably left over from a funeral a long time ago. Someone lost them in the garden is all. Lots of people pray with rosaries in cemeteries, so it's not just priests that have them."

Kuina sat looking at the beads for another couple minutes before nodding reluctantly and getting out to follow the boys.

* * *

Sanji went to start on dinner right away in a kitchen while the remainders hefted the bags into the house.

Because Zoro actually wanted to spend some time in his room unpacking before dinner, he flung Sanji's crap into his room first, mindful of all the paintings.

Sanji had found a room near the end of the same floor of the East Wing on the opposite side of the hall from Zoro and Kuina's. It seemed to have belonged to an artist that had lived here, though they hadn't been able to find any signatures or dates.

There were sketches and paintings and little sculptures all over the room. Even Zoro had to admit that these were good, and wondered if this man had a private studio in the wing below them with more stuff or if he'd just crammed it all in here.

But then he _had_ to have some type of studio if he did carpentry, because the furniture was more fantastical than anything Zoro had seen outside of an art gallery, that was for sure. It was somewhat of a case of the-eye-of-the-beholder, because the first word that came to Kuina's mind was 'Dr. Suess', and personally Zoro just thought they were an eyesore. He actually had to walk over and open the bureau drawer to see whether it was functional, or just for display. Either way, Zoro was baffled as to why anyone would intentionally leave a young lifetime's worth of work to rot in a house (despite the fact that _nothing_ in this house showed any signs of even _aging_, let alone rotting).

But Sanji loved the art. He loved everything about the room. He said it felt 'homey', which was a weird word to hear coming from Sanji's mouth, but whatever made the elf happy was fine, Zoro reflected as he trudged back down the stairs to get his own luggage. In truth, Sanji's room had felt comfortable to him, as well.

A few minutes later, Zoro had his bags and was approaching his own room carefully. He set down one bag to open the door, and then carried his stuff into the dark room. He set it down beside the bed and turned on one of the lamps before taking in the room again. It really was a nice room. It was open. Zoro liked open space.

He walked over to the wardrobe and opened the doors, not surprised when it was already full. He had no idea where the logic was in the waste, but rich people had an odd habit of leaving their stuff around when they left a home because they could just buy more. They didn't even donate. Not everyone was like this, but Zoro had met his fair share of them.

Still, as he lifted out a white shirt with buttons down the front, ruffled sleeves, and a frilly collar, he couldn't understand how boys had worn this in the past. It was so feminine! Of course back then the girls were all in dresses, so it was just a more effeminate world, he guessed. He also got a feel from the size and design of the wardrobe that it belonged to an average, typical teenage boy.

There were trousers, belts that were probably worth a small fortune apiece, black shoes that bucked with brass in the front, and then some more dressy black clothes. Zoro guessed the latter were for church or smart dinners with important people. Maybe even classy parties based on the value and look of some. There had to be three tuxedoes in here, and a few ties.

Upfront was the casual dress -undershirts, holed up trousers and sandals. Several casual T-shirts and home-stitched clothes had kind of been thrown in carelessly.

Whomever had stayed in here last hadn't done so since probably about World War II, based on the styles of the clothes alone.

To test his estimate, Zoro went over to the bookshelf.

As he'd guessed, all of the books on the shelves were pre-WWII, and looked used. They hadn't been for wealthy show. Zoro got the feeling this kid hadn't been much into impressing people with his class rank. These books had been read, and as he flipped through Jules Verne and Alexander Dumas and Charles Dickens, he also noticed that they were marked up. Doodled in or had margin notes. …And art and music books. Texts that Zoro would have to call Humanities criteria, agriculture, and naturally, viticulture (the study of wine-making).

Now it made more sense. This boy had likely studied at home with a tutor. The education offered by this town was probably none too educational. Or maybe it was because the townsfolk had believed the Hill to be haunted even back then, and this boy hadn't fit in too well. Or maybe his parents had just been really finicky.

And he was learning material Zoro hadn't seen until college, which was very typical of a rich boy pre-WWII. Especially if his parents wanted him to go to college soon. This kid had to have been at least seventeen. Sixteen at the youngest. But comparing the number of doodles to real notes kind of gave Zoro the feeling that his poor tutor had been wasting his efforts. This was a boy who had probably snuck out of lessons and made faces behind his tutor's back.

Zoro walked over to the window and opened the drapes to find that it was not just a window at all, but glass doors that opened outward with turning knobs, and that he had a balcony that overlooked the grapevines. It was a comfortable balcony, but it was always in the shade of the house. He doubted the sun's bright rays ever came shining through the window to light the room.

As Zoro went back to his bags to trade those in the wardrobe with his own, an idle thought that there was no dust settled, or even aging of the old books or fading in the dark blue comforter on the bed that barely fit into the décor because it was so dark.

Then, as Zoro was moving to heft his bags onto the bed where they would be easily in reach, his eyes fell on the sunny yellow straw hat with the red ribbon that was not sitting in the middle of the mattress…where he wanted to put his bags down.

Had that been there before?

He couldn't remember. Drat.

Oh well. It must have been there, right? Because seriously, it wasn't like things just moved themselves.

Zoro reached over to grab the hat and move it when something that had been observing dormantly -something Zoro hadn't even suspected was there- suddenly made itself known when a force the likes of which Zoro had never known hit him, lifting him off the ground and over the bed to slam hard into the far wall, feet several inches above the floor.

It felt like a blanket of sheer G force was pressing his body there, almost half way up the wall, but Zoro could make out hands with defined fingers -that he couldn't see but where very much solid- holding both his wrists separately.

The real power that overtook him, however, wasn't so much the physical feeling of the force as it was the knowledge that came into him. Like he was channeling emotion through that touch. It was an amazing feeling, but a terrible one because of the raw emotional pain that the presence was in.

Perhaps it was that a human soul with no body had nothing to keep its emotion hidden inside -everything was exposed and raw and real- but Zoro knew that this being did not want Its feelings known by him. That was why It hadn't touched him before now, even though It was curious.

This was not the presence from earlier. _This_ presence had _not_ shown him this room.

This presence was confused and angry and sad and lonely. And It missed someone terribly. So badly that the pain was almost overwhelming. Yet there was the barest glimmer of hope that It clung to.

Hope for what, Zoro didn't know. That It would have that person back again perhaps? That It's unfinished business would end, if It even had anything left to do at all?

Isn't that what psychic crack-pots always said? That disturbed beings waited for someone for so long that they forgot how to leave, or they felt like they had something left to do?

This one could be waiting for someone. Or maybe It was just lost.

It felt lost.

But the painful emotions and sheer sorrow combined with the fact that It reacted to protect an object that could have no possible value to anyone other than a sentimental being were what convinced Zoro firmly that what he was in physical contact was _couldn't_ be a demon or a 'something else', but that it HAD to have been human once. Possibly It felt It still was. Zoro didn't know.

But It was human at heart. It felt pain and loss so strongly because It felt love so dearly. This presence was full of love and compassion. So It suffered.

It was poetry in motion, just like a living garden of death. To exist at all in this world was to be a conundrum. The more you love, the more you hurt. This being was full of hurt.

Zoro also somehow had the knowledge that It could feel his emotions just the same way; that the link worked two ways.

The two stayed touching like that for nearly a minute before Zoro spoke.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was special. I won't touch it again."

The grip gently let up and lowered him to the ground. Then It was away from him. He didn't know where exactly. It felt like it was everywhere he wasn't, but he was sure It was localized somewhere.

Zoro could still feel It there. It didn't seem to be trying to hide anymore, if It had even been doing that in the first place. And Zoro couldn't feel the emotions. The stream cut as soon as It had let go.

Feeling oddly accepting of this turn of events, and certainly not wishing to scare the Thing that was much stronger than him, Zoro boggled over how the people in horror movies tore through houses screaming whenever they came into contact with something they did not understand. This Thing that had just touched Zoro had been able to reason and compromise. It was intelligent, not a monster.

Zoro wondered for a moment if he was the strange one.

He was able to make his things and the things in the wardrobe trade places without a hitch after that.

The second presence he had felt since entering the house itself must have left sometime in the middle of this trade off, because when Zoro tried to focus on It again after he'd finished, It was gone.

* * *

The kitchen they were eating in was a decent size. Sanji seemed to like it, anyway. According to him, it was the only one that hadn't been built big enough for fifty chefs to be working all at once. This one was more of a family set up. Personal. Intimate.

And for some stupid reason the electricity wasn't running to the appliances.

"Crap-thing!" Sanji shouted at the microwave again. They had a gas stove, but whatever the weird French dish he'd been making was, he seemed to want to use the convection oven for it.

He'd made do, and now they were sitting around in a big dining room enjoying the food, but Sanji wasn't satisfied with it. The other two thought it tasted fine.

"Sanji, it's good, okay? Don't worry about it so much." Zoro tried to sound convincing, but he wasn't really good at complimenting people. Well, not without putting it in code, so it came out like "This sucks" or "What the hell is this trash?".

Sanji huffed and puffed in his chair. "I know it's fine! It's just… if it is the wiring then we should get a technician out here this week to scout the house out and make sure nothing's dangerous. I mean, maybe a fuse is blown or something."

Kuina said something now. "I don't know. The lights in my room worked the first time I went in, and then they didn't work the second time, and then they suddenly came on by themselves right before I came down for dinner so I had to turn them off."

This reminded Zoro of the light that had flooded his own room when he first opened the door. The light that came from no identifiable single point, but was brilliant, and everywhere at once. And then vanished when the other two had come.

He twisted his napkin and tossed in the table. "Maybe the house doesn't have the electricity hooked up at all yet."

Sanji and Kuina looked at him confused. "Then what do you think it's running on, Zoro? Sheer will?"

Zoro's eyebrows creased and he looked up at the dining room light above them thoughtfully.

Sanji rolled his eyes. "Well, if it is, then our will is defective."

On the floor, Sydian started barking excitedly. He suddenly shot away from his food and chased nothing across the room, jumping up and down beside the wall while the rest kept eating.

Zoro got up and towed him by the collar back to his food, saying "Maybe there's an old generator in operation or something. It would explain why the power's been so unpredictable."

Sanji took his last bite of food and nodded.

Zoro finished up with, "We'll call someone in the morning if you can't wait."

Sanji sat back, food finished. "That's another thing I noticed today. This hill has no land lines, right?"

Zoro shrugged. "We knew that."

"There aren't any cell phone towers nearby, either."

Now Zoro sat up. "What?"

"You heard me. We have no telephone access up here. At all."

Zoro fell back and ran a hand over his face. "Okay…" he sighed. "We'll do things one at a time. Tomorrow we'll go down into the town and make a call to have a phone put in and talk to the electricity company."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "You realize that it will take time for the wires and such to be run through the walls to install a phone up here? And until it's finished, if anything happens to one of us, someone will have to get off the Hill, maybe in the middle of the night, and find someone willing to let us use their phone." He shook his head. "It's a bad setup, Zoro."

"I know that! Geez… Maybe we can call around at the store tomorrow and find a place that sells satellite phones and have one shipped overnight."

"Yeah right. Because _those_ are so common." Sanji shook his head.

"Is there a hospital in town?" Kuina asked as she collected the plates.

Sanji took a second for his mind to suddenly change gears. "Um… Yeah. Well, there's a Medical Outreach Center. I'm sure they can handle whatever we might bring them. They probably get a lot of injury accidents, what with the viticulture and animal rearing they do here."

Kuina nodded and started to leave.

"You can leave the dishes, Sprite. I'll do them in the morning. Why don't you go to bed?"

Kuina pouted, "But it's still early!"

"It's almost nine. Besides we traveled all day."

"I slept in the car! And on the plane!"

"You're gonna get jetlag and become nocturnal if you don't sleep tonight."

Kuina frowned at him.

"Go on, Kuina." Sanji said, standing up. "We're going to bed, too. Isn't that right, Zoro?"

Zoro lazily pushed himself up after a moment. "Yeah, yeah."

Kuina got a disappointed look and then left to put the dishes in the sink.

* * *

__

"Has Luffy become aware of him yet?"

"I don't know. I don't understand it, Ace. What are you trying to do with him? You know what could happen if he starts to see too much!"

"…I need to give Luffy something real to believe in."

"I thought he had that hat?"

"But in the end, that hat can't comfort him at night. He's spent too many nights in tears."

"We all have."

"Not like him."

For a moment in Nami's room, it was quiet.

__

"Ace, have you ever stopped to consider that… that he might be broken? That after so much time-"

"He can come back."

"What if he can't? The things he's been forced to do… a heart can only take so much."

It was quiet for another pause.

__

"… No, Nami. This place can't be allowed to take him any further away from us. He's still Luffy, somewhere in there. He just needs something real to remind him of that."

"Do you really think this new boy is going to be willing to comfort him? Will he even understand what Luffy is?"

Ace didn't answer, but he sincerely hoped this 'Zoro' would do exactly that.

He had to.

* * *

Kuina caught up with the boys two minutes later on the stairs. "Sanji, you left the burners on. All of them."

Zoro laughed mockingly. "Great job, ya idiot."

Sanji looked like he was being wrongfully persecuted. "No I didn't! I swear! Maybe they have pilot lights that started because I had one of the burners lit earlier."

"I actually had to turn them off. Pilot lights don't turn off manually." Kuina insisted.

Sanji looked totally confused, and turned after a moment to continue up the stairs, mumbling more to himself then his cousins, "Huh. But I didn't even need all of them in the first place…"

"Maybe it's broken." Kuina hopped up the steps on one foot with Zoro standing right behind her.

"Maybe. But if we're running on gas we'll have to find the propane tank tomorrow."

Sanji nodded. "Yeah. We'll check out a lot of stuff tomorrow. Tomorrow is when we have to start taking notes on damages and repairs that need to be made, and figure out a budget. …Which I'll probably be doing most of because you have no mind for math or estimates."

Zoro grinned.

Sanji grumbled in mock-agitation. He really didn't mind too much. Zoro always helped out more than he said he would. Sometimes just by staying out of the way. Sanji knew the business would be split down the middle with him when Zoro inherited it.

They reached their Wing, and Sanji went into his room with a good night and a "Don't wake me up early".

Zoro had walked Kuina into her room and said goodnight next. He was a little wary about leaving her alone in here after what had happened to him earlier, but she hadn't indicated noticing anything strange, and the room did have a rather accepting feel to it. Nothing strange, anyway.

Besides, Syd was going to be staying with her tonight. If anything happened, he'd let them all know.

Once she was in bed, Zoro continued to his own room, father down the wing. As he did so, he reflected that staying in a room that seemed to center around at least two testy ghosts was probably not the greatest setup in the world. But this _was_ a nice room… and if there were other Presences in this house, as Zoro suspected there probably were, then maybe the other rooms they'd been in had been a preview to their personalities.

He remembered the baseball room that had been clawed apart with all the mirrors smashed, and realized that this room still felt comparatively safe, as long as he didn't step out of line or touch the straw hat.

Of course the baseball room hadn't felt like there was anything else in it already…

But then neither had this one before he was thrown into a wall. Zoro had to wonder, with growing unrest, what might have happened if he'd touched one of the pictures in the baseball room.

He knocked twice before entering, because it was polite, and he wasn't stupid enough to assume that it would be empty now just because he'd left it that way.

But upon going in he was met with quiet darkness.

The first thing he noticed upon turning on the light was that they straw hat had been moved from the bed to one of the tables beside it.

He got changed into something he could sleep in, but he didn't dare just jump into bed afterward.

So he just stood there for a minute before slowly pulling back the covers. "Is this okay?"

Nothing.

Maybe he really was alone now.

Well, that was a comforting thought. So long as something that he hadn't already met didn't come in, it would probably be fine.

And because he was so tired, not even thoughts of ghosts in the garden of having a roommate he couldn't see kept him from falling quickly to sleep.

* * *

Zoro awoke sharply. It was in the pitch of night.

At first he was confused as to where he was. It took him a moment to remember, and then another to figure out what had awoken him.

Crying.

There was a baby crying nearby in the manor. Whether out in the hall or in another room of the Wing, Zoro couldn't tell. But it was there.

There was a baby crying in the night, in a place where he KNEW there couldn't possibly be a baby.

Zoro pushed himself slowly out of bed. He had to get to his sister. He had to check on her.

If this place was coming to life for not only him, but her and Sanji too, then he had to get to them before they freaked out.

He reached for the light to turn it on, only to find that it wouldn't work.

Well, he couldn't let that stop him. He'd just have to feel his way slowly and pray to God that nothing else found Kuina before him. Maybe there were some candles and matches in the desk over there. It was a long shot, but not totally unlikely in a place like this where the power was so unpredictable.

He felt his way along the bed and waded through the darkness to desk.

His efforts proved fruitful when he uncovered a handful of small, old candlesticks and a box of matches that he could tell were practically antiques by themselves. By feel alone, Zoro tried to strike them, but the wood wouldn't hold up under the pressure and broke.

Unwilling to spend any more time messing around, Zoro pushed away from the desk and turned to the door, and stopped.

There was _already _someone by the door. A teenage boy.

Except he wasn't.

He wasn't a featureless ball of light by a long shot, or one of those blips of motion that paranormal scientists had captured images of in blurry photographs. But he wasn't visibly solid, either. And Zoro knew he wasn't a living human being.

He had color, but it was washed out. Faded to an extreme. And he had a little bit of illumination that seemed to radiate from his form and glow slightly.

He had dark hair, a scar under one eye, and old fashioned red and white sleeping clothes. Red shirt with white baggy sleeves, and tan pants that were loose in the legs and bunched at the feet. Zoro could barely make out the colors, but this kid was in his pajamas.

What stood out to Zoro the most, however, and probably would to anyone, were his eyes. This boy had deep blue eyes that somehow looked so lost that Zoro almost felt sorrow just looking into them. They were the only thing that retained their color with vivid clarity.

If it was even was a boy. Movies and books had told Zoro more than once that intangible beings could take whatever form they wanted, or whatever form seemed the least threatening to the beholder.

It occurred to Zoro that he didn't actually know _anything_ about this being at all, other than it was in the room, and it was staring at him.

Zoro hoped he didn't make it mad, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.

The boy stared back, apparently just as captivated as Zoro was.

They both stood frozen for almost a full minute.

"You can see me," the boy finally said. It wasn't a question, but he sounded surprised.

Zoro was startled when it spoke. He hoped he hadn't pissed it off. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I was watching you, too."

Zoro didn't know what to say to that. He finally settled on, "Why?"

The boy hinted a mirthless smile. "Because you're in my bed. And I'm curious."

Zoro was curious too, but he wouldn't say anything. He was breathing easier now. Whatever- whoever his boy was, he didn't seem hostile at the moment.

The boy looked like he was trying to figure out why Zoro was so quiet for a moment, and then seemed to realize the problem, because the next thing he said was, "You don't have to be afraid of me. I won't hurt you."

And Zoro relaxed a little more. He couldn't believe this was really happening to him. He was inclined to believe he was dreaming, and he couldn't decide yet if he wanted that to be the case or not. Which was really strange, actually.

"Are you the one I met in here before?"

The boy looked down and nodded. He looked slightly guilty, but he wasn't apologizing.

"Well… we didn't exactly get the chance to exchange names then. I'm Zoro."

The boy looked up again, a degree of wonder in his face. It was several seconds before he answered. "My name is Luffy."

Zoro was suddenly wondering how long this poor boy had been here with no one to talk to. He looked over Luffy's old clothes again, and remembered the ages of the books on the shelf. Had there ever been anyone who hadn't run away? Had anyone every spoken to him the way Zoro was now?

But he didn't know how to word such questions, and wouldn't until he got to know this boy better; something he was surprised to realize he very much wanted to do.

"The hat is yours?"

Now Luffy shook his head. "I'm taking care of it for someone."

Zoro processed this and nodded. That seemed kind of an odd form of 'unfinished business', but then what did he know. "Is that why you're still here?"

Now the boy looked confused. But after only a moment, that confusion dissolved and sorrow set into those eyes again. "No," he whispered.

The room suddenly felt a little colder to Zoro.

Okay, apparently the whole 'unfinished business' theory had been a stupid assumption to make.

Still, he couldn't believe that all that pain and sorrow that he had felt earlier when he'd been pinned to the wall had come from this boy. How could anyone so small suffer so greatly?

He wasn't sure what could make the situation better, so he just asked a question he really wanted to know the answer to. "Do you mind? That I'm in here, I mean? This is your room, right?"

Now the boy looked back up. "Aye. This is my room, but I guess it's your room too, now. If you stay."

__

…That didn't actually answer my question, Zoro thought, but he wasn't stupid enough to press it.

The baby's cries sounded out in the hall again, and Zoro lurched toward the door automatically, freezing after only a step.

Luffy was unfazed by the cries, but took a step toward Zoro to meet him. "It's alright. Kobe cries at night. His mother will take care of him."

Zoro wasn't assuaged, and remembered why he'd risen in the first place. But this ghost boy was between him and his way out. "I need to check on my sister. She's just down the hall." He took another step forward.

So did Luffy. "Not tonight. The house is waking up. Some are angry."

"Angry?" This made him want to go see Kuina more. And maybe Sanji too…

"Not angry I guess, but bitter. Violent sometimes."

"But not you…?"

The boy smiled a little sadly. "Not on purpose. Not anymore."

…There was another answer that Zoro wasn't quite sure what to make of.

Luffy turned slightly to look toward the door. "It's not their fault. It's very lonely. It hurts them. Because some of us have been here for a long long time."

"You miss your families."

Luffy looked back in surprise and nodded after a moment. "Some. Some of us have family here."

Honestly Luffy was amazed. This person had come into his room and been thrown into a wall almost right away, yet he wasn't running away from him. He wasn't even acting scared, like Usopp had so long ago.

He was acting empathetic. He was trying to be understanding. He _wanted_ to understand.

It felt… It had been a long time since an Outsider had stayed near him voluntarily. It was wonderful. And that was the problem. Luffy had hardly forgotten what might happen to both of them if he got too close.

He wouldn't let that happen again. He couldn't risk another one.

The baby began to cry again, and Zoro again took a step forward. "I really need to get to Kuina."

This time when Luffy began walking toward him, he didn't stop. "She's with Nami. Don't worry about her. Nami will keep her safe."

Zoro was a little unnerved that Luffy was approaching him steadily now. "Nami? Like that character on the wall? That was a name?"

"It's a coincidence. It's not how her name is spelled, or it wouldn't be there. But yes, Nami is nice. That's her room your sister is in, and she'll be safe there."

He stopped in front of Zoro. "You should sleep now."

"W-what about you?"

"I'll stay here. They have no real reason to come in my room, but if they do, I'll be here. And you should be sleeping."

"But-"

"Sleep." Luffy commanded, lifting one hand and pressing his solidly to Zoro's chest.

An overwhelming exhaustion suddenly took Zoro's body by surprise, and Zoro had a sudden revelation.

Ghosts and specters couldn't touch anything physically. A poltergeist could, but it was only ever interested in hurting people and destroying things. And no apparition that he had EVER heard of had been described as being so characteristically clear to the naked eye as this boy was.

So if this boy wasn't any of those things, what was he?

These were Zoro's last thoughts before he hit the floor in a deep sleep.

* * *

When Zoro awoke later on, he was in Luffy's bed and the sun had been up for a couple hours already.

He called out for Luffy, but no answer came.

He was alone.

* * *

AN: Hello. This story is taking much longer to get up here than I planned for it to. I apologize. I'm really focusing on this right now though, so it's starting to come along faster, then it just has to go through the beta reader, **Ahja Reyn**. She's amazing, btw. Look at this chapter! She caught every mistake there was!

This story will have a lot of little clues about what's happening written in each chapter for you all to find, so I hope you have fun with that, and that I kept the atmosphere right again. I'm sure you noticed that Luffy's character is VERY different from the start of the story due to some things I won't give away, but Zoro's job is to restore some of that original character again. :) It can easily be read as a love story for the ZoLu fans, but the focus will be on the mystery of the plot foremost.

Make guesses about things! That helps me know how i'm doing and what you know and what you don't know yet. Then I can write this better for you all.


	6. Ace of Hearts

**Homecoming Hill**

6

_Ace of Hearts_

Zoro went down for breakfast, unsurprised to find that he was the last one up.

He'd spent the time getting dressed convincing himself that he'd had a very creepy but interesting dream, provoked by fatigue and the memories of what had happened the day before. It was easy to believe, albeit disappointing. After all, he'd fallen asleep in the bed last night and he'd woken up in the same place.

And once he really thought about it, Sydian hadn't been barking when the baby cried in his dream, and that just didn't make sense.

Besides, a ghost that wasn't a ghost had a calm conversation with him in the dead of night while a baby that couldn't exist was screaming outside in the hall way? Can you say 'farfetched'?

He took his seat in the dining room beside his sister who was already halfway finished with her CheeriosÔ . "So how was your first night, Sprite?"

She shrugged. "Not too bad. I fell asleep with the drapes open, and Syd started barking at the moon a couple hours before dawn. But he didn't bark for long. It was pretty funny, actually. He started barking, and then it was like he just fell asleep right there on the floor in mid-bark."

Zoro stopped chewing. "…Was he okay?"

Kuina nodded. "At first I was kinda freaked, but then he started snoring," she giggled to herself. "Stupid dog…"

Zoro was about to say something else, but Sanji blustered in, hands covered in dirt, and made straight for the sink in the kitchen. "I found the propane tank," he declared. "It's completely empty. Looks like it has been for an ever or so."

'For an ever' was Sanji's unique way of saying 'for a long time'.

Zoro was hardly surprised. "Do you know how long it would have been there full and unused? If it had been full and you used it, it probably would have exploded or something."

"Well then where the hell is the fire coming from?"

"I don't know." Though he had a pretty good idea.

Sanji grumbled, scrubbing dirt from his hands.

"Don't worry about it," Zoro said. "It's working now and if it stops then we can call someone and live off cold food for a while. It's not that big a deal."

Sanji sighed and finally nodded, "Alright," and grabbed a towel off the counter to dry his hands with. "I'm going down to see about a phone. Why don't you check out the rest of the house and number how many more rooms are demolished, if any. Everything will need to be revamped, but the more that we can keep that's original, the better."

Zoro nodded, "Okay," though he didn't really like the idea of looking in any more random rooms in this house.

Kuina's account of what Syd had done that morning had Zoro thinking about the dream he'd had. He was sure it was a coincidence, but it was a _weird_ coincidence… One that Zoro couldn't just get over.

* * *

Kuina went with Sanji and Sydian into town after breakfast, leaving Zoro alone to check out the rooms.

He decided to start in the west wing, because according to the Key, there was a gym there and he wanted to see it.

He made his way down the first floor, only opening doors in here because there weren't supposed to be any private bedchambers on this floor. In the first room he entered, the electricity wouldn't work and he'd flashed his light around a little before realizing he was in the pool room. The swimming pool wasn't really big or small. It was just an ordinary lap pool. Empty of water, rectangular, three feet deep on either end and just over four in the middle. Lanes were painted on the bottom in red.

Nothing spectacular. _Regulations on private property sure have changed in the last hundred years,_ Zoro thought.

He closed the door and moved on to the next. Before he opened this door, however, there was a hard gust of wind that seemed to want to push him on to the next one that was much further down the hall.

Well, if it was so obvious that he wasn't going to get a warm welcome stepping into that room, it wasn't really a place he wanted to be anyway. He moved on, the wind guiding him onward, until he reached the next door, whereupon the wind abruptly stopped.

This was a creepiest place he had ever been in his life. Thank God they hadn't looked in the west wing for their bedchambers the night before.

He opened the door to step into a fully illuminated room, just like the day before, and immediately picked up on the familiar presence in the room.

Recognizing the presence as a friendly one, Zoro felt slightly more comfortable. At least more so that he probably would have without it, because he was now positive that there were a LOT people sharing this house with him.

Including Luffy. He no longer thought of his encounter last night as a dream. There was just too much weirdness in this house to support it.

He was in the gym now. It was full of a ton of equipment that had been assembled and added over the last hundred years or so. How fascinating. There were mirrors lining the far wall to make the space seem bigger than it was, but Zoro honestly couldn't see how they were necessary.

He walked over to a very old piece of machinery and began trying to figure out how it was even used.

"You know…"

Zoro's heart leapt into his throat as he spun around to be met by a young man who was not Luffy, but sure shared a lot in common with him. Specifically the whole transparent, not-a-lot-of-color feature. That was particularly prominent trait that this man shared with him. Although Luffy was much more transparent than this guy was.

The young man smirked a little and continued to speak as the doors closed behind him of their own accord. "You really shouldn't be wandering around alone. Especially in the west wing of the house."

He was older than Zoro. He didn't quite look it physically, but he had the expression of someone who was wiser than his years would normally allow. Also there was the way he looked at Zoro. Older people tended to look at younger ones at a certain way when they got to their late teens and early twenties. Like they knew every thought that went through your head, and were usually right about it.

He had dark wavy hair and brown eyes with freckles across his nose from what Zoro could tell. He was dressed not in night clothes, but in clothes from the same era as Luffy had belonged to. …If that was an okay way to classify him.

The young man kept smiling at him. "So it's true. You can see some of us already. And hear us at the same time. How many, I wonder."

Zoro didn't feel threatened in any way by this young man, and sat down on the weight bench that he was next to and got comfortable. It may have seemed strange to anyone else, but losing his father had made Zoro think about several things this morning after meeting Luffy, even if he had thought it was a dream. When his father had died, Zoro had certainly not stopped thinking of him as his father, and had never even considered the idea that his father couldn't hear him when he talked to him.

After talking to Luffy, he recognized that his feelings were the same toward others as well. It was perfectly reasonable. Just because some people might be dead didn't mean they weren't still people that could hear you. It was just that now Zoro had met some that could manage to talk back.

This young man only seemed mildly surprised when Zoro took his seat. He was visibly pleased, though.

"Are you not trying to be seen?" Zoro asked. This person seemed to be more forthcoming with information than the boy the night before had been. For starters, he was smiling a friendly smile and looked approachable. That alone put Zoro at some ease.

"Oh, I am gathered. If I didn't want you to see me I'd be dispersed around the room. We can only be seen and touched if we're gathered, but that's really not the issue. Try as we might, most people cannot feel our presence. And never right away. Needless to say I was very impressed by the vibes you gave off yesterday as you went from room to room."

That was a weird type of compliment… "You were following us?"

"Several of us were following you. Can you blame us for being curious? I'm sure you know that it has been a while since anyone was last here."

Zoro nodded. "Fifteen years."

The man's smile faded slightly. He looked sad. "Is that all it's been?" he whispered.

Zoro wasn't sure whether he was being addressed or not, but answered anyway. "Yeah."

The man nodded his understanding like he regretted being forced to admit to something. "We lose track easily. Time has no meaning here. But if what you say is true, then I've been twenty two for over seventy years."

That was an interesting way to say it. To say that he'd been _here_ for seventy years was one thing, but to say that he had been the _same age _for that long was strange.

"So if you were following us, you know a bit about my family and I."

The man nodded. "I know that you have plans to turn the Hill into a resort of some sort. You should know it won't work. Everlasting Manor and the Hill around it is already occupied, in a manner of speaking, and they don't like guests in large numbers."

"I gathered that." Zoro wasn't sure what kind of story he would have to create to convince his family. Greek Gods and 'bloody Injuns' weren't going to get the job done.

The young man nodded and took a seat in mid air. "Many of them have become secluded, and sharing a room is not a feasible option for them. I selected your roommates carefully."

"Then you ARE the one who led me to my room yesterday…"

He smiled. "My name is Portgas D. Ace, and I keep the peace for the entire east wing of the manor."

Zoro inclined his head in greeting. "I'm Zoro. But then you know that already."

Ace only smiled disarmingly, patiently. As wary as he felt about someone knowing everything about him without Zoro having seen him once, the young man felt very comfortable around this Ace character. Zoro tended to get along well with anyone who was friendly and bore no desire to harm him. Zoro hoped he wasn't being lulled into a false sense of security.

It was quiet for a few seconds as Ace and Zoro just watched each other. It wasn't like the night before when Luffy had stared, but eventually Zoro figured out that Ace was waiting for him to ask something.

He wasn't sure what, but lord knows Zoro wasn't short on questions, so he just picked one. "What do you mean you picked our roommates? You wanted me to be in Luffy's room?"

Well, that got a reaction. Ace almost seemed to switch personalities. He stood, and sighed. "Aye, Luffy. He's what I came to find you about. What do you think of him?"

Zoro hesitated.

Ace picked up on it right away. He turned to face the wall and put his hands behind his back. "Just be honest," he shrugged. "I'll know if you're lying."

And Zoro believed him. He thought for a few moments, and then said as carefully as he could, "I honestly don't know what to think. When he pinned me to the wall yesterday-"

Here Ace spun to face him sharply. "He _pinned_ you?"

Startled, Zoro nodded.

Ace groaned and ran a hand through his hair as he waved for Zoro to continue.

Zoro did. "-And when we touched it was like I could feel all of this sorrow and pain come into me."

Ace's shoulders slumped, as though Zoro had confirmed something he'd been worried about. "I'm sorry. I didn't expect you would be touched before I had the chance to properly greet you. Luffy formed what we call a 'channel'. It doesn't always happen, but when a few of us who have experienced… more _hardship_ than others get very emotional, they sometimes have a hard time controlling it. It's rather involuntary. The energy releases into the beings around them. It rarely happens with most of us, but Luffy's a bit of an exception, and as a result he's rather reclusive. He didn't mean to scare you."

"He didn't scare me, exactly." Zoro corrected quickly. "I was just really surprised is all."

He remembered that loneliness that he'd felt through the channel and couldn't help but speak a little softer as he said, "I'd never felt anything like that before."

Ace looked at Zoro curiously now. Surprised, and hopeful. The hope with just a touch of excitement was worn openly.

After a moment Ace sat back down on thin air again. "Do you think you could get along with him? I mean, would you be interested in possibly getting to know him? He's a very gentle boy really. It sounds more like he's more afraid of you than the other way around."

"Huh." Zoro reflected on the night before. "That actually makes sense."

Though the answer enticed Ace, he said nothing.

After a moment, Zoro looked up again. "It's just, last night I asked him if he minded me being there. He didn't exactly answer me."

Ace clasped his hands in front of him and didn't say anything for a while. Then finally- "I expected him to have mixed feelings about this." He looked up and smiled a little, "But I'm sure you can persuade him."

"But wh-"

Ace suddenly unfolded his hands. He looked toward the door and became perfectly still. Zoro froze as well, Ace's body language telling him not to make a sound.

After a moment, Ace relaxed slightly and turned back to Zoro. "I need to go back to the east wing. I'm stronger than any of the others, but I'd rather not use any power over here. You should leave this wing when I go. You don't want to get caught here. They don't know you're here yet, and you want it to stay that way, trust me. Go back to Luffy's room. He'll probably be there, and he'll be able to tell you more."

"Stronger than the others how?" Zoro asked as he got up, realizing in hindsight what a _stupid _question that had been.

Ace turned to look at him for a moment. Then he put his hands in his pockets, looked at the floor and pursed his lips in thought.

After a moment he looked back up.

He held up one finger in front of him and said, as if Zoro was getting some sort of special privilege, "Just a little glimpse. Just so you can see what kind of danger is here."

Suddenly the fireplace burst into flame, heating the whole room in seconds while simultaneously frosty lances of mist scrawled across the glass mirrors until they were completely covered in crackly ice. Zoro felt himself lifted sharply off the ground and spun around in the air to face the mirrors that -with no warning whatsoever- exploded outward with the force of an erupting volcano, but made no sound. Thousands of shards shot straight across the room at Zoro and he squeezed his eyes shut.

All at once it became completely still. A few seconds passed.

Zoro opened his eyes slowly and gasped. The room had been plunged into darkness, save for the fire, which was now dancing around him in a series of tiny flames like fairy lights. The glass shards had formed a perfect ring around him from head to toe, and had stopped inches from impaling him from all sides. They hovered, frozen in mid air, reflecting the firelight.

It was dazzling. Zoro could only have appreciated the beauty more if he hadn't been seriously in fear of his life at that moment. Ace let it stay this way for only a moment before he brought the light from nowhere up and the fire went out. Zoro watched as the glass shards flew back across the room to their frames and reestablished themselves into smooth surfaces of mirror. Then he was lowered gently to the ground.

"Of course, that was just a visual show. But you can see what kind of damage even a tiny bit of control like that can do to you and your family." Ace's voice recalled Zoro only slightly from his stupor. "I'm stronger than any of the others in this wing, I'm sure. You see-" he approached Zoro and touched his shoulder.

Zoro spun around, startled, then his eyebrows creased with the realization that his mind was totally clear. He'd snapped out of his daze like an alarm clock had gone off in his ear. Except it hadn't hurt. Like when Luffy touched him last night and he became exhausted. And earlier he'd been floating.

These things -beings- could control his body. To what extent, Zoro wasn't sure. But he didn't want to find out. Of THAT, he was sure.

Ace continued right where he'd left off after the brief pause. "-we all have different levels of power. Most have almost nothing. A few have little more. Any of them can destroy things to some extent, even if it means they have to pick up a hammer and smash it. But aside from me, there is only one other Everlasting that can do what I just did, and then STOP it from finishing its job in mid-air, and then FIX it. The others just don't have that much control over your plane of reality. So if they were to attack you, there'd be no take-backs."

Zoro nodded a little dumbly. "Oh. Well, I'm glad you're on my side…?" he shrugged.

"You have no idea," Ace said seriously. "Come on. You'll be fine in the east wing. We shouldn't linger here." The door opened and the light in the gym disappeared.

They went down the hall in silence and didn't speak again until they were at the entry stairs that would lead them up and east. Ace hovered over the railing and drifted along upward as Zoro climbed the steps.

"It's safe to talk now," the older boy said.

Zoro nodded. "Okay." But he was thinking on his own about so much that it took him a minute to find something to talk about.

"What about the west wing?" he asked, suddenly. "Does it have a- a moderator?"

Ace shook his head quickly. "Oh, no no. The people in this place wouldn't take well to that. You see, there's sort of a natural gravitation that happens in it. For some reason, the really violent and angry Everlastings usually end up over there. There are exceptions, but I think it's just because they like to have others to fight with. It wasn't always that way, but when Luffy and I started interfering with their fights in the east wing, they left to fight somewhere else. They didn't want to be stopped."

Zoro looked a little nervous now. He got the gist of what Ace was telling him. "So it's safe to say that there's more crossfire in the west wing that I could get caught in."

Ace nodded almost enthusiastically to make Zoro understand how on track he was. "Not even that. It's much more likely over there that you could just be attacked outright. And now you know that we're capable of hurting you - or worse, if you meet the wrong occupant."

Zoro was thoughtful for a moment. "Are you warning me to leave?"

Ace's expression remained neutral. "No. I'm warning you of danger." Then he mumbled more to himself than to Zoro, "Anything more will start Quakes, and then everyone will panic."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. _Quakes…?_

He decided not to ask. Ace would have elaborated if it was free information.

"Luffy helps you… pacify the east wing, then?"

Ace's blank expression became forced, as though he didn't want to give anything away, and now there was actually something worth hiding. It took a few seconds for Ace to answer. "He used to."

They stopped in front of Zoro's door, and Zoro turned to him. "What about my sister? And my cousin? Luffy said something about someone named Nami-"

Ace nodded and interrupted. "Your sister is in Nami's room. She'll watch her. She's a very close friend of mine and Luffy's. And your cousin is in Usopp's room. Neither of them are very strong at all, but they're also very rarely alone. I'll be monitoring them as well. You stay with my little brother, and I'll stay with your family. My room is in the second corridor." He pointed across the corridor at a smaller hall that linked it to the next corridor, which had more bedrooms. "Just go down there and turn left, then it's the second door down on the left. Knock if you want to come in. Otherwise the door won't open. I'm not in there much, but I know if someone knocks and I come when I can. Works the same for everyone around here. Welcome home, Zoro."

With that, Ace started to fade out of vision.

"Hey, Ace?"

Ace continued to disappear. "Aye?"

He vanished completely, but Zoro could still feel him there. "Why did you choose me to stay with Luffy?"

There was laughter as Ace's presence began to move down the hall. Like the day before, a small voice whispered in his mind, _Eenie meenie miney mo_.

Zoro frowned. This was becoming a trend with this guy, and he'd only encountered him twice…

Then he realized something he'd missed the first time around.

_Little brother?_

* * *

Luffy sat on his bed, holding Lucky Hat.

He imagined that Zoro must have left with his family hours ago, and had come in here to think.

He was so very curious about this new family. He didn't dare get close… but they seemed so nice. And he _missed_ it! He missed having someone to keep him company.

He had everyone in the east wing, sure, but they all had their own agendas.

Luffy wasn't like them. He needed someone to focus just on him sometimes. And make all the problems go away. Just like how Shanks had.

He needed someone who could remind him that maybe this could all end. That nothing could stay bad forever.

He clutched Lucky Hat tighter. Its presence had been enough for a long time, but it just wasn't the same as Shanks. It wasn't the same as a real person who wasn't afraid to talk to him because of what had happened so long ago. It wasn't the same as someone to spend time with.

He was so lonely. So so lonely.

How long had he been here anyway? It felt like forever.

He held up his hand and looked through it. Try as he might, he couldn't make it become any more solid than it was now even to his own eyes.

Luffy had the feeling that Ace was worried about him because of the Shifting. Luffy didn't think he would ever have to worry about the Shifting, he was way too strong, but big brother didn't seem to agree.

Luffy looked up from where he sat on his bed when the door opened.

Zoro seemed slightly surprised to see him lounging casually on the bed. His entrance faltered slightly, but didn't stop. Zoro wasn't running away. In fact, once he was inside he was trying to appear casual, sticking his hands in his pockets, though he didn't approach the bed.

_And who would after the way you treated him yesterday? _Luffy scolded himself.

All the same, Luffy knew how to appreciate a gesture like this. Too many times had he been looked at in horror. Too many times had his opinion of self-worth been diminished by a stunned gaze that identified him as something too disgusting or frightening or horrible or unnatural to exist. Now, Zoro offered him a half smile and a shrug that Luffy read to mean a cross between 'I don't know what to say…' and 'how's it going?'. It was so strange to appear in front of an Outsider and not have his heart ripped out by a look of fear and loathing.

He shouldn't do this. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't even still be here now that the Outsider was in the room! …But he so wanted-

"Hi," Zoro offered when Luffy didn't speak.

Luffy couldn't answer. It was a bad idea to encourage conversation! It always led to bad things, _always_!

…But Zoro had said hi. He'd said it nicely, all friendly-like. It would be rude not to answer…

_Okay, being polite is okay. There's no reason to be rude to someone who's being nice to you, especially given how often that happens. Small talk is safe. That won't hurt anyone._

"Hi," he felt himself replying, and he felt a small smile appear on his face.


	7. Everlastings and Dwellers

Make guesses, you guys! Guessing lets me know how the story is progressing according to you. I already know everything, but I don't know how much you guys are picking up. I'm pleased with how this turned out, given that Luffy's character could have acted in so many different ways here.

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

7

_Everlastings and Dwellers_

Zoro watched in a strange sort of misplaced fascination as Luffy smiled shyly. The younger boy (for that was something Zoro felt comfortable thinking of him as, no matter how much longer than he Luffy had existed for) seemed so much more approachable than last night. Had Luffy's closed off expression been influenced by the fact that it had been nighttime?

And were ghosts supposed to look this cute? Oh, but then he had already established that Luffy was probably not a ghost in the dictionary context.

Ace and Luffy were definitely brothers, though. Their smiles were very alike. The resemblance became much more clear with its appearance.

"You were out with your family," Luffy asked as a statement, and Zoro realized he'd been staring.

He shook himself out of it. "No, I uh- I went for a walk in the Manor, actually. I went over to see the gym."

This news seemed to really grab Luffy's interest. He sat up a little more. "You went into the west wing?"

"Yeah," and then before Luffy could tell him what he'd already heard, "I know now that was a bad idea. I met your brother and he told me that it can be dangerous over there."

Luffy's posture relaxed some. He began flipping the hat around in his fingers. "So Ace went to find you… What did you talk about?"

Zoro decided to approach the bed now, slowly, in case the boy before him decided he wanted to keep a wide 'personal space' ring around him, but Luffy didn't tense at Zoro's approach. On the contrary, he scooted back further on the mattress to make room. Taking this to be the invitation it was, Zoro climbed on and sat cross-legged, mirroring the posture of the boy who sat facing him three feet away.

Then Luffy did the most amazing thing. Well, there was nothing amazing in the act itself, but at the same time Zoro found himself feeling amazed. Setting his hat down beside him and out of Zoro's reach (not that Zoro would be stupid enough to touch it again), Luffy leaned over a little and reached to grab a pillow from the head of his side of the bed and pull it back to the middle of the mattress where they were sitting. And then the transparent boy was hugging the pillow to his chest. It was the most bizarre visual, but he acted so natural holding it that it made Zoro feel more at ease talking to him. Luffy had never looked threatening to Zoro as of yet, though he had acted indifferent before. Now that he had appeared to settle on the bed, starting a conversation was easier.

Zoro felt himself start to smile a little at the behavior and answered, "We talked about how he was sort of the Peacekeeper for the East Wing, and that you sometimes help him…"

Luffy made a half shrug, "Ace mostly does it by himself now. Some others help him, like Nami and Usopp-and Robin when she's around. I don't anymore."

"Why did you stop?" After he asked it, Zoro realized that might have been too personal.

"Reasons."

Slam. Ouch. Obviously a touchy subject.

"That's not all you talked about," the boy stated his question after a moment.

Zoro quirked an eyebrow at his tone and answered dryly, "Then he shut down all the lights and made me hover in the air while he made a mirror explode at me and fire dance in midair. Then he fixed it all like nothing happened to give me 'a glimpse' of why I should stay out of the west wing."

Luffy snorted. "Ace is much stronger than anyone else in the manor. Don't expect any others to do that to you. Still, his point is clear. It's dangerous."

"He said there was one other person as strong as him."

Luffy looked down at the bedspread and fiddled with his pillowcase. "Did he?"

Zoro noticed the attitude change, and had his answer. It was strange, but Luffy seemed modest about it. "…I should have guessed. You are brothers, after all."

Luffy shook his head and replied, "There is a reason for it, but it has naught to do with our family bond."

"So you can do everything Ace can do?"

Luffy paused before answering, "Our strength is equal, but I don't use my powers like him…"

"But you can?" Zoro pressed.

Luffy hesitated, but he nodded after a moment. "I can."

That was fortunate. Zoro only personally knew two…_ghost-things _in the manor, and they both outshined all the other ghost-things in strength substantially.

This thought brought up his next question, and he really hoped this wasn't going to lead to another denial, but he was ready for it if one came.

"Is… is there something that I can call you?"

Former subject forgotten, Luffy quirked an eyebrow. "You can call me Luffy."

Zoro shook his head, he wasn't saying this right. "Yes, Luffy, but I mean… what do you in the manor refer to yourselves as?"

"We refer to ourselves by name," Luffy answered.

Zoro sighed in frustration, but wasn't sure if Luffy was answering him to the best of his knowledge or if he just didn't understand Zoro's unclear question. After all, if they saw themselves as individuals, as Luffy was indicating they did (and why not?), then perhaps Luffy didn't want to be classified into rank or category as humans did to themselves for everything from ethnicity to religion.

He was trying to figure out how to reword the question and ask one more time when he noticed that Luffy was trying not to smirk at him.

Zoro must have adopted a weird expression when he realized this, because Luffy's smile grew before he quickly schooled it -though Zoro wasn't sure why; Luffy had a nice smile- and said, "I'm an Everlasting. We call ourselves Everlastings if we're in the manor. But I'm Luffy most importantly. The ones outside in the vineyard are Dwellers. That's what we call them. Don't know what they call themselves."

"Why not?"

"Because we're separated. They're outside. We're inside. Everlastings and Vineyard Dwellers."

"You're trapped in here… You can't interact with them at all?"

Luffy looked down at the comforter on the bed and shook his head. "We can see them sometimes when they walk in the vineyard sometimes, but we cannot talk to them."

"That's kind of sad…"

Luffy shrugged, his expression distant, but his hands worried the pillow, and suddenly Zoro understood the real purpose it served, and why Luffy had picked it up and hugged it from the start. It was a physical barrier between the two of them. After all that pain he had unwittingly channeled to Zoro the day before, Luffy was trying to hide what was inside of himself without being obvious about it. Like a separation of self and soul, what Luffy felt on the inside was carefully trained to stay away from the surface.

Yesterday must have been a terrible slip for him.

__

So much passion in such a small boy.

Deciding to push past this for Luffy's sake, Zoro asked, "Have you always been an Everlasting?"

He was nervous about asking this question too, but Luffy was still here and acting somewhat social, and Zoro wanted to take advantage of it. He wanted to know exactly what Luffy was, but he wasn't stupid. It was uncommon, but Ace had implied that they had been seen and even spoken to before. If it was as simple as asking to figure out what was happening up here, then the town wouldn't have been alluded to it for the last hundred years. Did Luffy have a tombstone in the garden? Did Ace? Or this Nami girl that was watching Kuina at night?

Luffy didn't answer, his expression now thoughtful. Finally he said, "You've figured out that I'm not a ghost."

There was a certain directness to how Luffy spoke. He didn't ask questions to which he already knew the answers. He simply stated what he thought Zoro's answer to such a question would most likely have been, and then waited to see if he would be corrected. But he was also amazingly elusive. Either by accident or design, he tended to avoid answering Zoro's questions outright.

Still, in a way, Luffy _had _offered some information, so he answered in turn. "I figured it out yesterday when we touched. I don't think ghosts are so corporeal."

Luffy nodded a little with a small smile, and was quiet for a few moments before nodding to himself as if making some big decision and saying, "Nay. I was not always an Everlasting."

Zoro nodded and then decided to change the subject for fear of leading into something else that Luffy would probably refuse to talk about. "So why did Ace become a peacekeeper?"

Luffy shrugged. "Someone had to do it. It's not like a position or a rank. He just started breaking up fights, and kept on doing it, and became viewed as a type of moderator eventually. He tries to be fair, and does his best to keep everyone here coexisting in a state _somewhat_ relative to peace." He frowned a little in irritation, and Zoro suspected that Ace's job was not an easy one. Maybe that had something to do with the reason Luffy no longer did it.

"Does it get really crazy over here?" Zoro was starting to seriously wonder what kind of a place he was living in, and whether it would be safe to keep Kuina here. Even though he had been all but told even by those who inhabited the manor that it wasn't, he wanted to think it was okay. He didn't want to leave. Something had happened here, and kept happening here, to make all those people vanish and no doubt become Everlastings and Dwellers. There was history here and he had to figure it out.

Luffy pursed his lips a moment. "Some of us have been bored enough to start reading every book in the library. There just isn't much to do. So we have nothing to do all day but play games or fight. Either of those can get wild. Thus are the East and West Wings usually divided."

"Usually?"

Luffy's usually bright blue eyes dimmed a little. "Let's talk about something else."

Okay, so that was another dead end. Zoro scrambled to think of something else to ask. There were _so many questions_, but so few things he would actually feel comfortable asking. Neither Ace nor Luffy seemed overly eager to give small details, sticking to broad and general subjects that weren't very personal. Luffy especially avoided personal questions. What he really wanted to know was why this house was full of transparent people similar to ghosts, but he didn't dare ask something so invasive.

Was the only difference between a ghost and an Everlasting that Everlastings were more corporeal? In that case where they just a different kind of ghost that sci-fi nuts hadn't learned about yet, so these spirit-beings didn't know what to call themselves? Because to say that this place was not haunted was just ridiculous. Zoro was convinced that he was living in the most haunted house in the world. After all, who were these people if not the remains of those who had been lost here over the century? And just how many people HAD been lost here? No one in town was sure, but Zoro was aware that the graveyard outside did not indicate a small number, and according to Tweedle-dum down in the store, the headstones apparently didn't account of even half of those lost.

"May I ask you how many Everlastings there are? I mean, you and your brother both seem to know about most of what goes on here."

Luffy laid back on the mattress and looked at the ceiling. "You can ask, but I can't answer, because I'm actually not sure. None of the Everlastings have ever known how many are in the vineyard, but I don't think any of us even know how many are inside the manor anymore. I'd bet that the Vineyard Dwellers are in the same situation we are, but there are more Dwellers than Everlastings. But I can tell you that there are more of us in here than you think, and that you must never wander around the manor by yourself without one of us with you to warn you of things you will _NEVER_ see coming otherwise."

Zoro wasn't quite understanding all of Luffy's vague explanations, but one thing was clear after all this: he really did not want to meet anything from the West Wing.

It was also very evident now that this place truly did exist in a world of its own, separated from everything else. Ace had said that time had no meaning here, and the lack of aging to anything in this manor attested to that. How could that be? Zoro decided to make it his goal to find out.

Suddenly Luffy shot up and looked at the door with no warning, much in the way Ace had while they were in the gym earlier. It unnerved Zoro greatly until he heard the sound of running in the hallway outside his door and identified his sister's gallop easily.

"Just my sister."

Luffy nodded and relaxed, reaching for the pillow on the bed beside him. "Aye. …Never mind, then."

Then Kuina burst through the door with a loud, "Zoro! Look what I got while we were down the hill!" and emptied her bag of CDs out all over the bed next to him. "Can I put 'em on your laptop and transfer them to my iPod?"

Zoro sat stunned. Kuina was acting as though Luffy wasn't right there on the bed, watching her interact with her brother with a growing smile of curious interest. The little Everlasting didn't seem to expect a reaction from her, though, and so Zoro forced himself to answer her smoothly. Except he was terrible at it, and kept looking at Luffy -who was sitting across the bed and observing Zoro's situation passively- rather than looking at Kuina, which finally prompted her to ask if he was alright, and 'what he was staring at?'.

He said "Yes! Nothing!" so fast that both of the others in the room raised an eyebrow at him. Well, better letting family think he was distracted than insane. Besides, if these beings couldn't make themselves known to just anyone, then they were supposed to be a secret from those people. Right now Luffy and the others were his secret, just his, and Zoro was surprised to find that as exciting as all this mystery was, he didn't want to share it with anyone. This was his puzzle. It was meant for him, somehow, he knew it.

Kuina had gotten over his distracted behavior quickly and was now talking a mile a minute about all of the things that she had seen in town (mostly the horses).

Zoro wasn't really listening. As his sister prattled on, he was drawn to watching Luffy pretend not to be interested in the colorful plastic cases that held CDs in them. Zoro didn't know if Luffy knew what a CD was; perhaps it was just that there was something curious about having something new to look at sitting on your bed for the first time in at least seventy years. Either way there was something endearing in the way Luffy's expression became more childlike little by little and his blue eyes brightened up. Finally Luffy just stopped pretending altogether and crawled slowly across the bedspread to look.

Zoro's father had used to say that every person came into this world with a certain task to fulfill, and when the time to start that task arrived, he would just know it. At some point in his life, every man would find himself in a the right place at the right time that would call for talents that only he had.

Here Zoro had just had to unexpectedly travel across the country to stay in a house that turned out to be haunted only to discover that he had the unique talent of being able to talk to dead people. Coincidence? He thought not. He was here for something or for someone. Zoro smiled at how Luffy's hands itched to touch the CD cases, but he kept drawing them back so as not to alert Kuina to his presence. _Or maybe for both_, he thought to himself.

"Anyway, it's lunch time, and then Sanji says we've got to go look at some of the other rooms in his place and start giving a damage akessment."

Zoro snorted, attention back on her. "A 'damage akessment'? Really?" he said, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a smile.

Kuina grinned and nodded with certainty. The situation was made only funnier when Luffy asked beside him, "Akessment?"

"Assessment!" Zoro laughed.

Luffy folded his arms and pouted, actually pouted, at him. It was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.

Kuina, who'd only heard half of the exchange, stuck her tongue out. "You say it your way, I'll say it mine. Now come on, I'm hungry!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.

"What about your stuff?"

"I'll get it la- What's that?"

Zoro turned to look at the bed. "Uh… What's what?" His heart almost stopped. Did she see Luffy?

Luffy didn't seem to think so. He had his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

Kuina pointed at the bed. "The hat. Was it in here before?"

When she looked at Zoro to ask her question, Luffy dove for the hat and closed a hand over the top before hugging it to his chest. He shook his head frantically. "Pretend you don't see it!"

Confused but not in a position to question, Zoro said, "What hat?"

Kuina looked back at the bed, and then slumped in open confusion. "The hat that was just there…"

Zoro shook his head. "You're seeing things, Sprite."

"But- but there was one right there…"

Zoro put his hand on her head. "Obviously you're delusional from hunger. Let's go get food, and I won't tell Sanji you're losing your mind."

"Oh, like you can talk!" Kuina swatted his tummy, before turning to lead the way back out of the room. "Let's go! I'll race ya!"

Zoro threw his head back. "Puh! You couldn't beat me with a head start!"

"Bet you!"

Zoro raised a finger to his chin. "Hmmm… Bet me what?"

"Tonight's desert," she bet, guessing that Zoro would forget even if he did win.

"You're on!"

Just like that she was out the door, laughing.

Zoro turned back to the bed to say something to Luffy, but there was no form on the bed anymore. There was no form, but his presence was still here, dispersed throughout the room and seemingly everywhere at once, so Zoro grinned at the room from the doorway. "See you later, Luffy."

He waited a second for an answer.

"Zoro, come on!" Kuina shouted from down the hall where she was jogging in place.

Zoro's smile was fading slightly in disappointment when heard a voice filled with renewed wonder but definitely not unfriendly say, "Okay."

Well, it was a start.

Zoro's grin grew and he let his hand slide off the doorframe as he took a couple steps backwards into the hall before turning to dart after his sister, who screamed and took off at top speed through the Wing.

On his way down the hall he saw a small Everlasting, a pretty and delicate-looking little blond girl, step out of the room to the right of Sanji's. He faltered slightly, not knowing how to greet her without being obvious to Kuina, but the girl seemed to be interested in their race, and she smiled and bowed to him before waving him on to continue. Not wanting to be rude to the beings that were letting them live in their home, he gave her a smile and a nod as he ran past, saying "Good day, Miss" in a way that he heard Sanji do so many times. She laughed a little before he darted past her and around the corner. What a sweet-seeming girl!

Seeing Luffy come out of his room after the Outsider had disappeared, the girl walked up to him with a smile.

Luffy was watching after the Outsider's trail. "Later, then," he whispered, seemingly to no one. His eyes were filled with a curious amazement that the girl had not seen there in the entire time she'd known him.

She observed his daze for a moment before placing a hand on his arm gently to snap him out of it. "Have you met him? What do you think?"

Turning a smile on her, Luffy nodded. "Aye, I talked with him a bit. I think he's… nice. I like him. I can't believe he can see and hear us already. Most never do. Even Ace didn't…"

"Well, you know how practical Ace can be. That inhibited him, I'm sure. Usopp says _he_ gained the Sense right away."

Luffy quirked an eyebrow and smirked at her. "Usopp says a lot of things."

She giggled, then took his arm and smiled. "Well, I'm glad you like him. We all hoped you would. Especially Ace."

"You _all_ hoped I would? When did you _all_ see him?"

"Yesterday, of course. That's when Ace showed him your room."

Luffy groaned and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. "I should have known he didn't choose it on his own…"

Kaya smiled softly. "It's just because he'll be safe there."

Luffy's responding laugh held no humor in it. "Safe, aye. With me."

Kaya looked sad. "Luffy," she started softly, but Luffy turned from her sharply and she allowed him to cut her off. She recognized defeat when it was staring at her, and Luffy had been beaten hard.

They turned and drifted down the hall.

"Anyway," Luffy added quietly, "I don't know if he really _gained_ the Sense at all. I know you're the newest one here and haven't gotten to see any Outsiders move in, and I don't know all of what you've heard, but what's happening now is unusual. The sense is never so broad as what he has. Usually one or two of them will feel us first if any of them even gain an awareness of us at all, and then sometimes much later they can see a few of us or hear a few of us, but I've never known any to have known all three at once."

The girl was puzzled. "Then maybe they just developed fast for some reason. Could it be because of the Shifting?"

Luffy shook his head slowly. "I doubt it. It's like… everyone else's was born during their stay, but Zoro just has it in its entirety. He had it when he got here."

Kaya stopped drifting for a moment. "You mean…?"

Luffy nodded. "I do. And it could change everything."

* * *

Zoro beat his sister to the kitchen. Then he proceeded to rub it in with big-bellied laughter and lots of pointing while she fumed and did her best to step on his feet.

By the counter, Sanji rolled his eyes. Meathead had such a sister complex. He was everything the overprotective older brother should be, and he showed his adoration of her by inciting violence and competition and then teasing her mercilessly.

"HAHAHA! I get your desert tonight! Silly Sprite, thinking you could beat me! HAHAHA!"

"Grab your food, Oat brains."

"Sanji! Zoro's trying to steal my desert!"

"I am not! I won it fair and square! You shouldn't have bet it!"

"Won it how?" Sanji looked between the two of them. "I didn't see you win anything. Did you, Kuina?"

Kuina covered her mouth with her hands trying to stifle her giggles. "No. Zoro's so stingy."

And so it always went.

The siblings helped Sanji move the food into the dinning room, and they started in on their sub sandwiches. Seriously, they ate well every day with Sanji around. When he was gone, the other two were reduced to eating applesauce out of jars.

"So we can't get phone lines up here," Sanji got right down to business. "The guy at the phone company said that they've tried to hook up landlines in the past, but they won't work. The signal won't carry no matter what they do, and they don't know why. And of course there are no satellite phones in town, so that's where we stand until cell phone towers go up, whenever that happens."

Zoro nodded. He'd expected as much, and it wasn't good. "So we have to be careful and stay close while we're in the house. No wandering." He looked at Kuina pointedly.

Sanji nodded. "It's all we can do. We'll call Dad from the town, I guess. He's not gonna like this. We're going to have to do something about phones before we open this place up."

"We'll worry about it later," Zoro said, unwilling to worry about something for an opening that was never going to be allowed to happen.

"So get this," Sanji changed the subject. "Because the idea of Greek gods cursing the land is ridiculous, a lady on the side walk today informed me of how this land used to be full of Iroquois who buried their dead by the stream nearby, so now the ancestors have decided that when they are lonely they can just suck someone up to join them. Now isn't that the perfect explanation? I sure feel enlightened." Sanji rolled his eyes and snickered.

Zoro sighed. "Iroquois in Oregon. Don't any of these people read?"

Sanji stared at him. Trust cucumber head to find the least disturbing thing about the information and get stuck on it.

"Why's that weird?" Kuina asked.

"Because the Iroquois tribe was part of the five great nations back before the French and Indian War. They're northeastern Native Americans who never came anywhere near this far west to bury their dead before Homecoming Hill was established into a winery. Also, why would Native American ancestors decide to start making non-Native American's vanish to join them?"

Sanji continued to stare. "Why would they decide-? Zoro, they can't! They're dead."

Kuina frowned. "That's just silly," she nodded.

Zoro's mouth gaped like a fish for a moment, and then, "I-I know that! I was just saying…"

"You were just _saying_ that you have Native American blood in you and so you defend them and their weird impractical beliefs every chance you get. Zoro, they can't come back from the next life and handpick people to join them so that they have more people to play Indian poker with."

Having nothing to follow that, Zoro shook his head, and the other two started talking about people they'd met in town and guessing which ones might have done what for a living.

Not being able to participate in this, Zoro began looking around at the walls and the chandelier on the ceiling. It was at that time that became aware of the other presence in the room. The temperature had dropped just slightly, nothing significant, but that aura of eyes watching was accompanying it. Zoro searched the room with his eyes, but there was nothing to see, or even a central point on which to focus. As he tuned out the voices of his family, the dining room became scarily quiet. Zoro could not hear his family anymore when he tried.

Sydian, who until now had been chewing contentedly on a bone under the table, darted out barking and began to run laps around the table. Zoro could see it happening, see his cousin calling after him, but he heard nothing.

Glancing toward the kitchen door, Zoro now saw a woman with long blonde hair, long legs, rectangular eyeglasses, and hard eyes scrutinizing his family from where she was standing near the wall. Her arms were crossed and her expression exuded strength and independence. She appeared to be in her late twenties somewhere. She was sexy, yes, but she also looked like a very dangerous woman. Like Ace, she was much less translucent than Luffy. The yellow-painted wall behind her was giving her color a slight tinge, but certainly not washing her natural color out like what happened to Luffy when he stood at a certain angle.

She did not try to speak. She just observed him, her eyes looking him up and down as if searching for something in him. She did notice quickly that she was being observed by Zoro in return, because her eyes narrowed at him. Her posture remained unchanged until she decided she was finished with her scrutinizing, and faded from sight.

Sound came rushing back again just in time for Zoro to get an earful of Sanji's voice yelling at him to snap out of it and help them.

Whoever she had been, she was gone now. Zoro wasn't sure if her look had been a threat of some kind or not.


	8. This place messes with us

**Homecoming Hill**

8

_This Place Messes With Us_

Luffy knocked before walking into Ace's room and getting hit on the chest by a ping pong ball.

"BLAST!" a long-nosed boy agonized from the table the ball had flown from. He'd missed it again! But that was okay, because next time he would win! He was marching over to get his ball back from where it had rolled away after bouncing off Luffy when something distracted him and he let out a cry of happiness. "Kaya!" He rushed around Luffy to give her a hug. Usopp was always happy to see Kaya; she adored the stories he made up just as much as he loved telling them.

Usopp's opponent, a tall woman with a dark complexion, never stopped reading her book. As standing ping pong champion, Robin was good at essentially playing the game with her eyes closed. Her power was enough to let her handle light weight objects such as a ping pong paddle from across a room.

Luffy glanced around quickly and noted without surprise that Ace's room was being treated like a fairground. This happened whenever any Outsiders came to stay. Outsiders made some of them nervous, and when people got nervous they became unpredictable. Because of this, and because of some unofficial open invitation, when Outsiders were staying in their wing, everyone was welcome to come in and out of Ace's room as they pleased (provided they knocked) instead of going about their normal business.

Luffy could tell with a glance that those in here were not nervous at all, but excited, and because Ace was usually the first to know about anything that happened, everyone wanted to be where Ace was.

Usually everyone who was currently in here was downstairs in the studio-turned-recreational-room with the others at this time of day. It had originally been Luffy's idea to create the rec room. He and Ace had figured out many decades ago that it was easier to keep an eye on how everyone was getting along together when everyone was actually _together_. Also, the games were satisfying when everyone could play, and these entertainments were what kept everyone from getting too frustrated and taking it out physically in each other. Morale and emotional support was stronger in numbers for most of them.

This was something Luffy had always known by watching others interact, but had never personally believed in. He liked one-on-one interaction, and hadn't been to the rec room since Kaya had joined them. In fact he hadn't been near any of those not in this room right now since _Usopp_ had joined them, and even then he only really interacted with Ace. Like in everyplace, the East Wingers had drawn into different groups that all got along for the most part, but still preferred to share secrets with their closest friends.

Perhaps 'fairgrounds' was a bit of an exaggeration, but the thing was that there were around thirty Everlastings with rooms in the East Wing, and almost half of them were now in here, lounging around.

"What's up, Luffy?" Ace brought his brother's attention away from the way Usopp and Kaya were hugging each other so happily.

Luffy approached him casually. "Ace, about Zoro… Did you bring him to my room? Specifically, I mean."

Ace lost control of the card deck he was shuffling and cards would have flown everywhere had Luffy not been ready for the slip and frozen them all in the air before reversing their course and putting them all back in Ace's hand.

Ace watched the cards reposition themselves and knew that Luffy wanted answers. "Luffy," he started, "I understand if you're upset, but it's been a while and I was hoping that you would be willing to let him stay with you. I know you've been bored, and this will be something that will keep you busy."

"I've been fine, Ace." It was a lie and the other knew it. "I just… Why me?"

Ace sighed, but not in exasperation. "Is he bothering you? Has he said anything to hurt you?"

"No, but that's not the iss-"

"After setting off a channel with him as a greeting, I should think you would be amazed at how gracefully he's accepting us so far."

Luffy but his lip now. "…I wasn't trying to mess things up for us."

"I know, Luffy," Ace explained patiently, "I'm just saying that, rather than ignore him completely and watch him walk into trouble like he almost did earlier, we could give him a hand to help him stay out of more trouble than necessary for a while. He might not be the only one who benefits, either."

"But why me? After- We all know it doesn't end well when I get involved in things."

Ace shook his head, "You're perfect, Luffy." He raised his hands to stop the arguments before they came, saying, "I know you don't see it, but this time there's no one better suited. You've learned better than anyone here what the limits are, and how to use doublespeak to give hints to hints. This is the best opportunity we've gotten so far, if it really is what it might be."

"What do you mean?"

Luffy turned sharply. He hadn't even realized Nami was in the room until she had spoken just now. He had just brushed past her. He hadn't meant to do that. The last thing he wanted to do was ignore Nami. Though she had little time for him because she helped Ace so much, Luffy liked her very much. Aside from his almost-equally busy brother, there was no one else in the manor with whom he would speak to for more than a minute. He smiled at her now and got a smile in return before Nami looked back at Ace.

Ace was looking at Luffy. "Let Luffy explain," he smirked. "I'm sure he has an idea of what I'm talking about."

Luffy looked down again and was quiet. Everyone looked at him expectantly and that just made him nervous. He hated being in a room with so many people, and to have all their attention focused his way was enough to make him want to bolt, but he actually had something to say.

After several moments he looked up at the ceiling where he would not have to meet anyone's eyes and said, "What's the difference between ourselves and the Outsiders?"

"WE'RE SEE-THROUGH!" Tilestone shouted much louder than he needed to.

Everyone either looked at him in surprise at his outburst, rolled their eyes, or sighed. Paulie threw a piece of chalk at him.

"…Something important," Luffy elaborated. He turned his eyes to Kaya for a little salvation.

"We all have a complete awareness of each other that Outsiders don't have when they get here. This awareness gradually develops in those the Hill chooses the longer they are here," Kaya answered patiently. "It takes a different amount of time for each of those selected."

"Exactly," Ace input. "But…?"

"But," Luffy pushed forward, "this individual, Zoro, showed up with awareness already intact. No one has ever done that before."

"So?" Nami pressed.

"It's just a theory Luffy and I considered this morning, so don't get too excited," Ace said, "but whatever it is on the Hill that's keeping us here cannot visually distinguish us. This we know."

Everyone nodded.

"With the Shifting suddenly started, theoretically the sense that it uses to feel the difference in our auras could be receiving interference. 'Could be' being the operative phrase there. But IF it is, then there may not be enough there for Zoro to be associated with his family."

"…Why not?" Usopp asked.

"Because as far as his presence is concerned, he has more in common with us than his family," Luffy murmured softly. "What does a man do when he doesn't stand out from the majority?"

For the first time that day on the other side of the room, Robin smiled. "He blends in."

* * *

As much as Zoro wanted to go back to his room and tell Luffy what had happened, he had to go look at more rooms after they ate.

Zoro had mixed feelings about this. He wanted to see more. He was incredibly curious. But he had been expressly told not to wander around without an escort, which sounded ridiculous, but he wasn't exactly in the real world anymore. He didn't want to run across anything bad while he was with Kuina and Sanji. If Ace and Luffy were good representations of East Wing hospitality, then Zoro knew it could be a lot worse. But what if they weren't?

If nothing else he wanted to fetch Luffy or Ace to come with them so it would be safe, but he was sure that they had better things to do than hang around in their rooms all day and were probably elsewhere, so he would have to find them, which would lead to him wandering around anyway. What's more, Sanji would not let him escape, accusing him of being a bookworm that needed to see the manor to give a second adult opinion.

There was nothing to be done for it, and soon they were on the bottom floor of the East Wing to observe damage and assess conditions.

"Woah!" Kuina said, just to hear it echo back to her in the big ballroom.

Their flashlights bounced off the walls and shined against the flooring of the enormous, cold room.

They'd already been in the theatre, which had been strangely hot for being built half underground, and had twenty six seats. It was an impressive private theatre, with mostly silent pictures and old musicals on reels that any movie house would kill for.

It was in awesome shape much like the library, where the books dated this place like they did Luffy's room. Zoro had felt many dispersed presences going about their business by the bookshelves. None of them would gather themselves together so he could see them, and none felt threatening. They just seemed to be watching and waiting for something. Probably for he and his family to leave the room they'd just barged into. Zoro had moved cautiously, and everything had been fine until Kuina had gone racing across the room to read some of the covers out loud and the temperature dropped sharply.

That had unnerved Sanji a lot and he was the one who had nominated it time to go, which Zoro had seconded.

The ballroom was the first room in the wing that Zoro had stepped into without getting any sort of vibe at all. It was as hollow of presence as it was of natural light. It was beautiful, though. The ceiling had a grand mural of a the night sky with clouds and stars looking down at them. The wall brackets held candles that had been lit at some point in history, and a grand diamond chandelier that was worth more than an small vineyard's entire season hung from the ceiling and would have been alight, had the electricity actually been running everywhere in Everlasting Manor.

Sanji had decided that there had to be a few different power boxes in different places that ran different parts of the house, because in most of the rooms they'd visited, the power was fritzy, but there were some rooms where nothing happened at all.

Zoro had his own suspicions on the matter.

It was a beautiful ballroom, clean and in wonderful shape. Even the floor was unscuffed.

"This is great!" Sanji said.

"I don't know…" Zoro tried. "Seems like kind of a shame to open it up and let everyone ruin it."

"You're right. Let's let it rot here instead." Sanji looked at him disbelievingly.

His cousin half-frowned.

"Zoro, are you okay?" Sanji looked _almost _concerned. "You've been zoning out since we got here yesterday. Do want to go lay down?"

"I'm fine! I've just been thinking about this place and how we'll open it up is all."

"Okay," Sanji nodded. "I get that. I don't think we'll be able to do it for a while, though. The townsfolk aren't privy to us at all. But with the stories about this place, maybe we shouldn't actually change too much? I mean, think about it. We advertise an authentic haunted house as being open to the public and people will eat it up."

"How do we make it authentic?" Kuina asked as they left the ballroom and started down the hall. The next door was a good distance off.

"I suppose we'll have to find out the truth about these so called disappearances."

"How will we do that?"

"We won't," Sanji shrugged. "History is Zoro's bag. He can figure it out. Right, Zoro?"

Zoro nodded. "Oh yeah. I want to know what happened here. Graveyards that size don't appear for no reason, and neither do rumors."

"You always say you can't put stock in rumors." Kuina said dismissively.

"You can't," Zoro confirmed. "Rumors slander the truth. But they don't start for no reason, either."

"They didn't," Sanji said. "A ton of people keep dying on this Hill. There's got to be some kind of trap somewhere that people keep falling into. Or maybe it was just bad harvesting equipment that kept hacking people up."

"Ugh…" Kuina made a face.

Sanji put his hands up defensively. "I'm just saying we don't know anything about any of the people that died. They could have all been farm hands."

"But the store guy said that little kids have disappeared here, too," Kuina reminded.

"Sweetheart, when kids wander away from a town like this one, they get lost. There're woods and snakes and probably bears and wolves out there just waiting for a child to go exploring."

"You were the one who brought all this up talking about ghosts," Zoro admonished. "Don't start lecturing us now."

"I did start it, and I think it's a decent idea," Sanji said again. "What I'm saying now is that before we can try to sell this place off as haunted, we need a story to go with it. One that's good enough to convince the ghost hunters."

"It's true," Zoro nodded. Though he wasn't going to let the Hill be opened at all if he could help it, Sanji had a point. " 'A whole bunch of people died or vanished here' doesn't explain any of those graves."

"I'd say it explains them pretty well," Kuina smirked.

Zoro bopped her, and she laughed.

"Anyway," she continued, "why would anyone want to stay in a haunted house?"

"It's exciting?" Sanji shrugged.

"But if it really is haunted by ghosts, isn't it dangerous?"

Sanji scoffed. "Yeah right. Ghosts can't hurt you; all they do is scare you. They aren't really dangerous."

She looked at Zoro for confirmation, and Zoro nodded at her. Sanji was right. "_Ghosts _aren't dangerous."

"But…?" Kuina prompted.

"Poltergeists are dangerous. You see, ghosts usually haunt an object or a place. They don't care about people. But poltergeists haunt a _person_, so they care a whole lot about people, and they're mean."

"Like on TV?"

"Sprite, that's Hollywood."

"But I saw one movie where a little girl got taken away by a poltergeist. No one could see the poltergeist but her, and then no one could see her, either. Do poltergeists do that?"

Zoro stopped walking.

"Kuina, poltergeists aren't real," Sanji frowned, worried that she might give herself nightmares. "I promise."

Kuina nodded, "Okay," and they continued walking.

"Hey Zoro?" she asked again after a moment. "What makes a poltergeist decide to haunt a person in the stories?"

Zoro shrugged, eyes oddly distant. "I have no idea."

* * *

Zoro heard the baby crying before they even opened the nursery door. The walls were yellow and covered in alphabet and duck stickers.

Kuina picked up a teddy bear and hugged it while Sanji nodded his head in approval at the room itself.

Zoro looked at the crib. There was no other presence nearby except for that of the infant inside. This setup was so bad that he couldn't get them to leave fast enough. What's more, upon hearing their voices in the room the baby began to scream harder. It was like a siren going off to alert everyone around of where they were, and Zoro didn't know what to do.

He almost wished that something would just show up so the anticipation would go away, but nothing did.

Sanji decided that since the room was in good shape they didn't need to stay in it, and had soon moved down the hall.

It was only moments later that Zoro felt the arrival of someone that relieved him greatly, and without arousing suspicion he glanced behind him to see Luffy walking with a beautiful redheaded girl and a curly headed boy with olive skin and a nose not unlike Pinocchio's. His coveralls were covered in dark stains and he favored his left arm. Both were about the same age as Luffy, and Zoro was surprised to see that yet again these two were distinctly more defined than Luffy was. Was it normal for Luffy to be so transparent by comparison?

"You gonna follow them?" the long-nosed boy asked with amusement, and Zoro realized that he was staring yet again and turned quickly around to catch up with his family as the redhead told him, "We can do introductions later. For now, pretend we aren't here."

Luffy chewed his lip in the back and said nothing.

There were around forty rooms on the second floor, and they conveniently didn't have to use their flashlights again for any of them.

When they entered one studio _full _of furniture and sculptures and paintings similar to those in Sanji's room, the long-nosed boy ran out in front of them all and announced, "This is my workshop! I made everything in here including most of the tools!"

"Nice," Sanji said in awe even though he hadn't heard the declaration. There were thousands of pieces hanging from walls or just set up strategically around the room to create a walkway, and there was a current painting in the works standing in the middle of it all.

_So this boy must be Usopp_, Zoro thought. _Imaginative kid. He's got me trapped in Fairytale Town with an elf and a sprite._

Sanji had to look at almost half of the art in the room, which took for_ever_, and all the while Usopp was bobbing around him to see his expression as he marveled over every little thing. It was amusing for Zoro at first, but it got old fast.

After twenty minutes it was getting dark outside, and Zoro decided enough was enough. Luffy had laid down in midair in the hallway outside, and the redhead was sitting in one of Usopp's chairs. "Sanji, let's go."

"Sanji, I'm hungry," Kuina finally said, sounding extremely bored. "And Syd's been all alone for hours."

"Yeah, we're done here," Zoro seconded. "It's time to leave Fantasia, Cheesehead, let's go."

"In a minute," Sanji said vaguely as Usopp demanded "Fantasia?"

Zoro frowned. "Okay, we're leaving you here," he informed and turned to head out the door with Kuina running out in front of him.

The girl got out of the chair and stretched as Luffy levitated himself higher to avoid getting slammed into by Zoro's all-too-eager-to-leave sister. Zoro found the latter a bit odd. Couldn't she just run through him? Or did it not work that way?

The redhead nodded to Luffy, who left without ever having spoken a word, and disappeared down the hall.

Sanji followed quickly enough after that, and soon they were at the main stairway where Kuina ran down to Syd's own personal bedroom in the servant's quarters to get her poor dog, and Sanji wandered off to do something before dinner. Like sit down for fifteen minutes after being on his feet for five hours.

Zoro went back to his room, and was surprised when both of the Everlastings followed him. "What about the others?" he asked once they were around the corner.

"They're fine," the girl answered him. "They're in the front of the manor. No one really goes there because there's nothing to do. The only time you find any of us in there is if we specifically need something, or someone's trying to spy on the other wing. I'm Nami, by the way. Atlay Nami."

So this was the woman with Kuina. Zoro offered his hand. "Roronoa Zoro, but everyone seems to know that already."

She smiled and nodded, "You're the big news right now."

"I'm Marksen Usopp," the boy whose name Zoro had already figured out announced proudly, and reached out to eagerly shake Zoro's hand. Zoro was able to touch both without incident just as if they were both flesh and blood, and it wasn't until he felt how icy-cold Usopp's hands were that it occurred to him that both Nami's and Luffy's were very warm.

Zoro turned back to Nami. "You guys are sort of like in a war or something, aren't you?"

Nami laughed and shook her head. "Nothing so extreme. We just don't have much in common with each other, but the same wing can get boring sometimes, so some try to come over and stir things up."

"They would love to have the whole house to fight in," Usopp spoke up, "but we've got a lot of strong people on our side. We've got Ace."

"And Luffy," Zoro added, unsure why they were leaving him out.

The other two looked at each other.

"Luffy…" Nami started.

"He doesn't really…" Usopp added.

Then they looked at each other again and shrugged. Nami nodded as if finding her words and said, "Luffy doesn't like the people in the West Wing, and they hate him. I mean, more than what's normal. They really HATE him, so he keeps away."

"Wow. Why? What did he ever do to them?" Zoro asked, remembering something Luffy had said to him when he'd first met him.

_-"The house is waking up. Some are angry."_

"_Angry?"_

"_Not angry I guess, but bitter. Violent sometimes."_

"_But not you…?"_

"_Not on purpose. Not anymore."-_

Zoro looked at Nami and Usopp. "Did he hurt one of them?"

"No! No, it's nothing like that," Nami said quickly while Usopp started looking distinctly uncomfortable. "They hurt each other all the time. They have their reasons for Luffy, but really it's nothing. It's not important. Anyway," she spun on her heel and pointed down the hall, "now that he's gone, we actually came to ask a favor of you."

Zoro perked in interest.

"Can you… I mean… can you take care of him? Of Luffy?"

Usopp nodded, back in the game.

Zoro was confused. "Take care of… What do you-?"

"What you just saw a few minutes ago? That was Luffy social. He doesn't talk with us anymore, he doesn't hang out with us."

"Why not?" Zoro asked again.

Nami sighed, obviously upset that they weren't saying this right. "I can't tell you that, and I know how lame and unreasonable that sounds, but trust me, if I could tell you what he's been through without making him my enemy for life, I would."

Usopp stepped in again, but was very hesitant at choosing his words. "This place… messes with us. It has done things that are downright brutal, actually, but _please_ never mention it out loud. The point is that I don't think it's been harder on anyone than Luffy, and now we're worried because the Shifting started…"

"Shifting? What's that?"

Nami shot Usopp a look, and he cringed while she answered, "Basically it means that we're in trouble, and time is actually starting to matter up here," she answered vaguely, waving it off.

None of this was making sense. "So things are starting to age…?" He was so confused.

Nami shook her head. "Not like that. It only means that we used to be positively made of time, and now we're not."

…What on earth did that mean? Zoro was dying with curiosity, but she didn't seem to think this was something he should be curious about. That just made him more curious.

"Look, we're not the people to ask about the Hill. We don't know everything, and we really can't talk about it directly. The only thing we can really talk about freely is ourselves and each other. Besides, there isn't much we could tell you, because there isn't much we know."

"Luffy could tell me some things," Zoro commented.

"Luffy's been here for a long time. He's seen more and knows more and has a lot of theories about this place. The D brothers were some of the first Everlastings. They've been here since there was almost no one on the Hill. I mean, no one like us. He can tell you a lot more than we can."

"If you can get anything out of him…" Usopp muttered.

"He's talked to me plenty," Zoro informed.

The other two looked surprised at him, and then at each other, and then smiled.

"I think he likes you," Nami whispered.

"Yeah but he likes all of us, too," Usopp reminded practically, though his smile didn't fade. "It doesn't make him come around any more. He has a clean slate with you. I think that's it."

"It's hardly a big deal," Zoro mumbled. "He talks, but he's pretty secretive. I don't know if he really _wants_ to talk to me…"

Usopp laughed a little. "Of course. You wouldn't know, but Luffy barely talks to anyone but his brother. Earlier he came into Ace's room when a bunch of us were there and started a conversation. He hasn't done that in a long time. I think it must have something to do with you."

"Well, was he talking about me? Because if so, then I'd say it had a lot to do with me."

Usopp opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. "Oh yeah…"

Nami rolled her eyes. "Just do us this one favor. I know you don't know us, but please. Be patient with him. He carries a heavy burden, and in addition to that he takes very serious responsibility for things that he cannot help."

"Look," Zoro's voice dropped to a whisper. "I know he's been hurt badly. I don't know how so, but I can feel it when I'm in his room. Sometimes it feels like a hiding place."

"It is. It belongs to him, but now you're in it," Nami said seriously. "You'd better take responsibility. He'll protect you. Protect him."

They dispersed after that leaving Zoro alone a few doors from his room.

Zoro had no idea what to think of that. What exactly did Luffy need to be protected from?

* * *

"Are you sure there's no other way?"

"Luffy, I know that you're afraid, but you can't let that fear conquer you. Just let him share your room. Let him know what he needs to know in order for him to stay safe. Nami's doing the same for the sister, and Usopp agreed to watch the cousin. That's all I'm asking of you with your roommate. Beyond that all we can do is hope."

Luffy frowned. "…Ace, I'm so tired of hoping… We hope and hope, but…"

Ace put his hand on his brother's head. "But nothing happens."

"No," Luffy pulled away, "something ALWAYS happens. That's the problem! Something happens, but nothing changes. Ace, I can't do it again."

"What makes you think you'll have to? You can't just keep assuming that every time will be the same. You only have the one experience."

"I only needed one! It's hardly something one just gets over."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Luffy, when you want something, you have to meet it halfway. Nothing will happen without the effort on our parts. I'm not asking for much of you, Luffy. What you do in the end is your choice. Just let him share your room and let the pieces fall where they may."

Luffy was still for several moments before nodding. "Alright, Ace," he agreed before getting up to head for his room.

He would let the pieces fall, but he would watch them fall carefully from an emotional distance. What had happened that day would stay with him forever. It had been a punishment. A lesson with an important message. How Ace had managed to miss the point was completely beyond Luffy.

* * *

AN: Thank you for making guesses you guys! They really do help me know how well i'm steering the story. Please** keep it up! ** Things get added in every chapter, so if your guesses about different things change, please make new ones! It's fun for everyone this way, it's a game! The best part of any mystery is trying to figure out what's happening before the answer comes. And I can make it better for you with your help. :)


	9. The Beat

****

Homecoming Hill

**9**

_The Beat_

It was late when Luffy opened his door and walked inside of his room where Zoro was doing something over at the desk using candlelight. The Outsiders had already eaten by now, and Zoro was in a baggy t-shirt and that loose underwear that Kaya referred to as 'boxer shorts'.

Luffy took his straw hat off, placing it on the bed before flopping down next to it on his back before remembering to light up the room. He didn't care if he saw anything or not. He knew this room like the back of his mostly-there hand, but it was a courtesy. "Save the candles," he mumbled tiredly from the bed, before hearing the puff of two candles being blown out.

He felt Zoro's eyes on him and after a moment he turned to look at his observer. "What is it?"

"You look tired," Zoro said, and Luffy knew why he was confused.

"I am tired," he answered.

"Can you sleep?"

"Sure. Several of us have had to several times," Luffy answered, relaxing again and closing his eyes.

That was an odd answer. "Is it not normal for you to sleep?"

Luffy didn't move from his comfy spot as he answered, "I'm strong enough that I don't really have to. You've seen one of Ace's shows. With our power levels, if we ever run so low on energy that we need to sleep, this Wing will be 'very screwed', to coin a phrase your cousin used today. There are a lot of strong Everlastings in the West Wing. Sometimes even when I helped it was hard to keep them out. But it's been quiet lately."

"But you look like you could use a nap now…"

Luffy opened one eye to fix it on Zoro for a moment before closing it again. "I'm fine. I haven't bothered to boost my energy for over a week. Didn't expect I'd be using power to try and detect others for so many hours today while your family went on your tour. Are you back at it tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Sanji wanted to start in the West Wing tomorrow for a change-"

Luffy sat up with a wide-eyed look Zoro had never seen him wear. The boy looked terrified and started shaking his head violently, but before the string of 'no no no's could come out, Zoro raised his voice to cut them off.

"-_but _I convinced him that we needed to finish one Wing at a time, and that we have enough information to straighten out as it is. I've gotten him to look at this place as two parts rather than as a whole for starters. He's satisfied on working the budget that way, first on one Wing and then on the other. They're both still curious to get a glance of what's over there, but at least this has bought some time."

Luffy nodded and relaxed into the bed again. "Oh good," he sighed.

Zoro tried not to laugh at him. He was just so cute, all ready to conk out right there. "Sorry we wore you out. I didn't realize how tiring it was for you."

"It's no big deal, except I was low on energy as it was. Now I'm exhausted, and it'll take me a few nights to get past it."

"Couldn't you trade off with the others?"

"Nami's not very good at… well, _working_ when someone else is there to do it, and Usopp doesn't have power to waste. They both stick to safety in numbers."

Zoro looked concerned, and Luffy could tell this without looking at him. "Don't worry. If anything comes in here, I'll have an easy time with them. They won't come, anyway. They don't want to be near me."

__

-"They hate him. More than what's normal. They really HATE him."-

Zoro decided to change the subject, because he didn't want to pursue where Luffy's comment might lead. Not yet.

"Why did you open the door?" Zoro asked.

"So I could come into the room," Luffy answered lazily.

"I mean, why didn't you just come through the door?"

"I did," Luffy said without moving.

Zoro shook his head. "I meant without opening it first."

"Because I would have walked into the door if I hadn't opened it first," Luffy smirked at him.

"You can't walk through walls? Because I thought I've felt you leave without opening the door first. I must have been wrong."

"You're not," Luffy said, rolling over onto his tummy and putting his chin in his hands. "I was dispersed. I can move through things when I'm dispersed. I can move faster and easier, but it takes a lot of energy and it doesn't feel very good. We can't do it for very long without suffering a power drain. A few of us can barely do it at all. I like to stay gathered anyway, because it's closer to my natural form. It's comfortable."

"So, when you're gathered, you're solid," Zoro said.

"Aye."

Zoro got up and sat on the bed beside where Luffy was lying, and the smaller boy rolled onto his side to see him better and reserve energy.

"What is your natural form?" he asked.

Luffy looked at him like he was stupid, but sighed and held up his hand. "It's a lot like this except it doesn't glow in the dark."

Zoro reached out to touch Luffy's outstretched hand, and Luffy pulled it back sharply. "What are you doing?"

Zoro pulled back as well. "I'm just- I'm sorry."

Luffy relaxed again. "No, it's… What were you trying to do?"

Zoro looked at the smaller boy and sighed. "I just wanted to check something."

"Check on what?"

Zoro shook his head. "Nothing, it's stupid."

Luffy bit his lip. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to do it, and he knew how stupid it was, but he also knew that touching an Outsider was well within his limits, and after a moment he slid his hand slowly across the mattress. _If you want something to happen, you have to meet it halfway, right Ace?_

Zoro reached down slowly, and then looked at Luffy in askance. Luffy nodded, still curled up on his side, and then watched as Zoro touched him.

An Outsider, another person, reached down to willingly touch him, and then smiled at him. Luffy felt the heat from his new roommate creep into him, and smiled back. He would never let it happen again. He couldn't. …But just this one time, he held another person's hand, and smiled. "You're hands are warm," he sighed.

"So are yours," Zoro smiled back, rubbing his thumb over the back of Luffy's hand. "You should smile more. You have a nice smile."

Luffy rolled his eyes and the smile grew. Zoro noticed that Luffy's form became a little stronger for just a moment, the color returned slightly from the usual state of bluish-white transparency. But it passed, and he was again bathed in starlight. "I don't really have much to smile about," he answered, and his eyes turned to look at the glass sliding door that gave a great view of the vineyard below it.

Zoro followed his gaze, but saw nothing. "It's a shame," he said.

Luffy snorted, but after several moments he sighed and looked up at Zoro again. "Zoro? Why are you still here? After yesterday?"

"What, that?" Zoro smiled. "That was an accident, right? Why leave over an accident?"

"You know very well that accidents aren't the only things that happen here. …And sometimes bad things happen around me…" Luffy whispered.

Zoro's smile was gentle and unfading. "Me too. My dad died a few months ago. There was a fire in the hotel he was staying at. My little sister lost her mom, too."

"You two have different parents." Again, a stated question.

Zoro nodded, "Yeah. My dad and her mom got married a few years ago. My real mom died when I was six."

Luffy looked at the comforter, eyes distant. "So did mine."

"We have something in common, then," Zoro said in the same gentle tone.

Luffy smiled again, then tensed suddenly and tried to pull his hand away.

Zoro held on. He wasn't sure yet… "Do you eat?"

Luffy looked confused for a moment, distracted from pulling away his hand. "What?"

"Do you eat? Food," he added. He began to massage the hand in his own two, and was relieved when it relaxed in his grip.

"Oh," Luffy sighed, "nay. I can't. I don't need to, either. Our energy is supplied by…" he trailed off here and nodded toward the glass door behind him.

Zoro nodded, and Luffy was drawn to feeling Zoro's fingers move over his own. It was so simple, yet so incredible. Someone who was trying to make _him_ feel good. Someone who was not hesitant to touch him despite the fact that he was a transparent freak, even among Everlastings. Someone who wasn't afraid of _Everlastings_! It was just completely unreal. Someone so nonjudgmental and receiving of him… _Zoro_ was completely unreal.

No matter what he told himself, Luffy knew he liked Zoro. And Zoro seemed to like him.

_This situation couldn't be more dangerous, Ace. I hope you know what you're doing, and there'd better not be some ulterior motive behind this set up, because I know what a rubber band effect is._ But with Zoro being a person that was so…_ like this,_ it was going to be hard._ I might have to get a little bit close to do this right. Just a little bit..._

Zoro, for his part, watched Luffy play out his internal battle on the bed. The younger boy went from shuddering and squeezing his hand for comfort, to relaxing and looking at the bed with tired eyes. Luffy responded well to touch, and Zoro wondered when the last time had been that someone just held him. If he had an outlet like that, then wouldn't all the suffering Zoro had felt in the channel the day before not be there anymore? Didn't anyone make an attempt to give their time to this poor kid? What could possibly keep all of them so busy that they didn't have time for a sit-down with him? For God's sake, it wasn't like they were _going _anywhere!

"How long have you been here, Luffy?"

Luffy closed his eyes for a moment in an attempt to stop the stinging behind them. Why did Zoro have to _care _so much? He was going to make his assignment of staying beside him really hard to do. "You're really nice," he whispered. "You don't deserve to be here."

Zoro looked sadly at the boy lying before him. "Neither do you."

Luffy opened his eyes again, and the two looked at each other, each trying to understand the other. Zoro got further than Luffy did.

When the smaller boy pulled his hand back this time, Zoro let him retreat, recognizing it for what it was, and knowing that it wasn't he that Luffy was retreating from. He didn't know what this 'Shifting' was, or anything else about what was keeping these people here, but it was obvious who this boy's enemy was.

Luffy sat up and looked outside. "You need to go to sleep now. The Hill is waking up."

"What does that mean? You said that last night, too."

Luffy looked at him dispassionately with the same distant mask he'd wear when his mind was wandering elsewhere, before getting up and walking to stand in the window light. "Our powers are peaking. We absorb starlight, that's how we replenish our energy instead of sleeping or eating. Our awareness is at its strongest at night because of this, and your presence is weakest when you're sleeping. We don't think the West Wing is aware of you yet, and we want it to stay that way. When they figure out that you're here, they'll come. We're trying to postpone that, so you must sleep at night. All three of you. It's important."

"Can you see in the dark, then?"

Luffy's gaze remained on the sky. "Nay. We rely on our ability to sense things coming. Sight is unreliable here."

The conversation that Zoro'd had with his sister that had been bugging him all afternoon came back to him now. He knew how it might sound, but he had to ask. "Luffy?"

The boy turned to look at him with that masked expression.

"My sister said something earlier that made me think, and I was wondering… what makes a person get picked to disappear here?"

Luffy looked at him stoically for several moments, so unlike the boy who he had been touching only a minute ago. Traces were still there, but he was so far away now…

"For starters," Luffy started pointedly, "you can ask something you aren't supposed to ask, or be told something you aren't supposed to know. Words have power on Homecoming Hill, and the land itself can hear you, so be careful how you word things if you have to ask something and try not to be obvious about what you're doing. Never write things down. I can't tell you not to be curious, because I know how impossible that is with us wandering around and the town throwing rumors left and right about the Hill. But if you get some idea about Homecoming Hill or what we are, don't say it out loud, and especially do not write it down. Spoken words can get lost, and whispers can be missed, but writing is permanent. Keep notes in your mind if you decide to keep them at all. That's as much advice as I can give you.

"Beyond that, all I can say is that there are two kinds of victims here; the dead and the vanished. The Hill only targets the vanished. Otherwise, some people just have the unfortunate luck of dying naturally or getting killed here, and then they can't escape. I don't know if you've missed this, Zoro, but we're not here on purpose."

Zoro nodded.

Luffy looked out the window. "You need to go to sleep. The stars are bright now." The light in the room went out, punctuating Luffy's order.

Zoro suddenly remembered the woman in the dining room that afternoon, but he supposed it would have to wait until the morning. Luffy was tired and didn't want to keep talking.

Zoro pulled down the blankets and got into bed, relaxing and letting himself drift off, reflecting.

He'd seen a glimpse of that boy he'd felt in the channel the day before, and he liked him. He wondered what it would take to bring Luffy out of his turtle shell and connect like he so obviously wanted to.

On another more important note, Zoro's touches had revealed what he'd suspected he might find. Luffy got sleepy. Luffy was warm to the touch; not cold like Usopp and probably a great number of the others were. Luffy could feel the temperature difference in Zoro's hand. Luffy craved contact, no matter how he might pretend not to, and all of this had led Zoro to his suspicion that he'd confirmed a few moments ago:

Luffy had a pulse.

* * *

At some point in the night, Zoro blinked in and out of consciousness. He could have sworn he heard someone crying. Softly. Heartbrokenly. But it didn't last for long if it was even real, and Zoro was asleep again before he was ever awake enough to realize what it might mean.

Zoro was unsurprised to find himself alone when he woke up the next morning.

* * *

Sanji announced while they were still only eating their omelets that they were going back to inspecting the East Wing again as soon as they were all done, much to Kuina's chagrin.

"Can't we take a day off?" she whined.

"No."

So that was how all of them, along with Nami, Usopp and Luffy, found themselves on the second floor of the East Wing in the room next to Usopp's studio. Usopp had been quite complimented when Sanji had tried to meander into his workshop 'on accident' again, but the attempt had been foiled by the door just _mysteriously_ not opening. Zoro tried not to laugh when Nami decided to take her stand by refusing him entrance, and had reminded Sanji that there were other studios on the floor that needed to be inspected.

Nami and Usopp were pleasant enough, and every time Zoro went into a room it always lit up and was empty of Everlastings. According to Nami, the word had been spread and everyone knew when it was time to go leave a floor vacant for a few hours. Zoro couldn't understand why they were all so lenient and eager to accommodate the invasion of their home. It was rather unnerving.

As the day wore on, five of the six wandered into many a studio, most of which interested Sanji a great deal and took a while to get through because he couldn't just look at the room itself knowing that most of the projects had been discontinued due to a sudden relocation of family. Painted walls, cabinets, and squeaky floors couldn't keep his focus off of the random creations in different kinds of rooms, so he had to inspect a ton of things that Usopp said were works in progress to someone who was out at the moment, and so he'd better not hurt anything.

It became tedious to deal with Sanji's elfishness in every room. Plus he kept hovering right over things, but then telling Kuina not to get close to them in a tone that seriously suggested he didn't know he was being hypocritical. It was getting on the little girl's nerves and anyone could see it.

It was during one of these long inspections that Zoro noticed that Luffy had not been entering the rooms with the rest of them, opting to walk around in the hallways instead. Making an excuse of needing to use the bathroom, Zoro headed out the door and down the hall, finally reaching and turning the corner, where he found Luffy leaning against the wall and taking deep breaths.

"Hey, Luffy," Zoro approached him, and Luffy looked up. "What are you doing over here by yourself?"

Luffy shrugged. "What about you? Where are the others?"

"Back in the room, I guess. I came to find you. Are you okay?"

Luffy looked at him in almost comic disbelief. "You came to find out if _I'm_ alright?" _How ironic._

Zoro couldn't figure out what was so funny. "So… are you?"

Luffy sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "Aye." He still looked awfully tired, though he might have just been bored. "You just left them there?"

"I made an excuse to leave. You know how Sanji is. He'll stay in there until Nami shuts off the lights and forces him to move on."

Luffy drew his knees up to his chest. "Hm. I should have brought a book to read."

"Well, we have a few minutes. Want to go grab one out of your room or the library?"

Luffy frowned. "Nay. I've read a lot of the books that are the kinds I like already, so I'd have to hunt around. It would take me a while to find one I'd be interested in. Do you like reading?"

"I've read a lot of novels. I like sci-fi and fantasy."

Luffy tsked. "I don't really understand sci-fi stories. All the ones in here came with later Outsiders, and they describe worlds that I can't see. They talk about this technology that they never bother describing, like everyone should just know it, and there are creatures sometimes that are… Let's just say I've been through enough supernatural for ten lifetimes."

"I can understand that. What kinds of books do you like?" Zoro leaned against the wall beside where the boy was sitting.

Luffy stuck his legs out straight and wiggled his feet. "I like adventure stories with journeys and picaro characters. But I like Happily Ever Afters, too. I know life is never that kind, but it's nice to think it could be."

Zoro kept going before Luffy could get sad. "When's the last time new books were added to the library?"

"I don't know," Luffy shrugged. "A long time ago. People have brought in newer books as personal belongings, but I haven't read many."

"Why not?"

Luffy rested his chin on his knees. "Because the others all want to read them, too. They claim dibs on who gets a book when, so a book makes rounds for a long time."

"Where's your place in line?"

Luffy hugged his knees tighter. "I don't have one."

Zoro leaned over a little to see him better. "Why not? Don't you want to see if they're any good?"

Luffy bit his lip for a moment before answering, "I'm not… I can wait. I usually take it when they're all done with it. …I don't like to bother them."

Zoro had thought it might be that way. Luffy didn't seem like he was used to asserting himself around the others without a good reason. Zoro sincerely hoped that Luffy didn't let them walk all over him, but he had the feeling that the only one who thought of Luffy as a bother was Luffy himself.

He squatted beside Luffy to better face him. "Maybe it's time you got some stories first, huh?"

Luffy looked away from him and shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"Zoro!"

His sister's voice from down the hall warned Zoro of her approach, and he straightened to meet her before she turned the corner.

"What are you doing?"

He started walking toward her, hating to be rude to Luffy, but having little other choice in the matter. "Heading back to the room. What are _you_ doing?"

Kuina sagged slightly. "Sanji sent me to find you. I hoped you'd be further away…"

Zoro laughed and put his hand on her head to steer her back toward the room. Behind them, Luffy rose and followed in silence.

* * *

When they finally, _finally_ reached the third floor, everyone but Sanji was greatly relieved and Kuina was asleep in Zoro's arms.

Most of the bedchambers on this floor were well-kept, as they had expected considering the state of their own rooms on this level. They started in the corridor adjacent to their own and everything went well until they reached a door that would not open immediately.

Before Sanji could throw himself against it, Luffy (who had been trailing behind all the others in quiet seclusion) stepped forward for the first time from behind Nami and Usopp and said, "Move on."

Suddenly Sanji decided that he didn't want to go into that room, anyway, and went to the next down the hall.

Zoro had tried to ask Luffy with his eyes what was behind the door, and Luffy started to answer, but then glanced at Nami and Usopp and stepped back into the back again.

Usopp and Nami hadn't been exaggerating. When Zoro was alone with him, Luffy spoke carefully, but when he was around anyone else, the boy was a clam.

* * *

Zoro dragged his feet tiredly into his room to change for bed that night. Luffy was standing in front of the fire in the fireplace that didn't look like it was burning anything, but it was heating and lighting the room nicely.

"Hey, Luffy."

"Hi," Luffy returned distractedly as he made the flames shape shift to form crosses, arrows, orbs, hoops, and even slinkies. Zoro let himself be captivated by this for a few minutes, because the shape wouldn't look like an object that was _on _fire - it looked like an arrow or a cross _made out of _fire. Not a flame rippled out of place or leapt from the perfect design, almost like a contained molten liquid, but not quite. As oxymoronic as Everlastings themselves, and still beautiful.

"You have really good control."

"Hm." Luffy frowned and stopped his game before walking over to sit on the bed.

Zoro watched in mild confusion._ His humility regarding his powers is a joke, is it? _

"So I take it your not a showman like your brother?"

Luffy shook his head. "Not anymore. Ace likes to dance, and he's used to being surrounded by people while using his powers, but he tries not to be wasteful with them so as to set an example and not appear conceited. Also, I'm sure I don't need to tell you how it could be if he ever messed up badly. I don't think it will ever happen, but you see where I'm coming from."

"Is that how you feel about your powers, too?"

Luffy frowned a little. "Aye… sort of. Like I said, I don't use my powers like he does." He propped his back against one of the four posts on the bed. "Having great power isn't something I ever really wanted. It's not always a blessing to be able to do things others can't, because then you're different from everyone else, and they treat you that way."

Zoro pulled on his night shirt. "They don't seem to treat you badly…"

"No, they don't," Luffy agreed. "It's just that…" He sighed. "It's easy for someone to decide on the solution for a big problem when _they_ aren't the solution. But when you can do things unique to you, then everyone else wants you to use that power to better _their_ situation. They exploit you, sometimes without meaning to, but I can't help but think that the situation in this whole manor would be so much better if everyone just stopped and actually thought about how simply using power to do everything isn't the way that _everything_ should be done. What's more, it's evolved from personal every day issues into 'we have stronger people on our side, so we'll just trust them to protect us from everything'. That isn't a magic bullet, and it puts a heavy burden on those who do the protecting, but those outside of Ace's group in the East Wing have gotten caught up in the power trap along with the rest and think that this way of thinking is good. Even a few of those _in_ his group have become pretty dependant. Ace and I feel that using our power to do more than what's necessary is uncalled for."

Zoro sat down on his side of the bed and said, "You mean: the side with the biggest guns can win, but just because you possess the bomb doesn't mean you have to drop it. With power comes the responsibility of choosing when and how to use it."

"Exactly," Luffy said, sounding relieved that he was being understood by someone. "Most Everlastings in the East Wing are weak. They have very little power, and the reason they're here is because the West Wing is full of people with lots of power. There are a lot of strong Everlastings over there - enough that even with our levels, Ace and I could be overpowered if they would ever actually work together."

Luffy noticed Zoro watching him patiently, as he usually did. Luffy stopped talking and went inside of himself to make sure he wasn't saying too much. Maybe he _was_ paranoid, and he knew it shouldn't matter to him, but he didn't want Zoro to know. His own terrible power, the thing that even Ace didn't have the power to do… He still remembered with vivid clarity… it was so painful every time, and he didn't want Zoro to know.

Realizing his hands were shaking, Luffy took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. It didn't work. _You've gotten scared over nothing. He didn't ask anything about that. This is… It's is only a story. That's what Ace would say. Ace would tell it in a second. It won't hurt anything. It's not like it's personal… just leave off the ending. It's okay. _

"Luffy, are you okay?" Zoro was getting scared for the boy. His eyes just now… they had looked terrified. And he was shaking badly, curling into himself.

"A-aye. I just… my thoughts wandered. Sorry."

"No, it's alright. Do you want to lie down? Not to rest but just… because?"

Luffy bit his lip and the shaking got worse. The fire in the fireplace started trading off between flaring up dangerously and dousing out completely.

"I promise not to crowd you or try to touch you if you don't want me to," Zoro added. "Or if you want to, you know, _be close_ to someone, you can come over here and lay down by me." Luffy looked peaked, and Zoro just wanted him to be able to relax completely when they were together, but at this point he would settle for getting the poor kid to stop shaking so badly. _Oh, Luffy… what have you been through?_

After a few moments, Luffy nodded and laid down on the blanket across from where Zoro was sitting and a reasonable distance away. "Okay… I'm okay. Sorry, that just… happens sometimes."

He looked so embarrassed.

"It's okay," Zoro said, "there's nothing to be sorry for. Sometimes memories can be pretty harsh."

Luffy gently laid his head down on the bed, watching Zoro through big round blue eyes. His shaking eased, and he nodded. "Aye…" he whispered.

__

Adorable…

Luffy took another deep breath, let it out, and started telling a story. "You see, the West Wing has always had more people in it because it has more rooms, and therefore more people moved into them and were then claimed by the Hill. We used to all share the whole house freely and we got along like two halves of a dorm. The reason that we became divided with them over there and us over here is because almost all of the strong people started using their powers to try to best each other. At first they were only finding a cure for boredom, but as time passed, they became more violent. Then most of the original East Wingers moved over there and abandoned their rooms here as their frustrations and their desires to compete grew. At the same time, several weaker people came over to this Wing seeking sanctuary, because the stronger West Wingers were picking on them. They became so obsessed with the idea that they _could_ use their powers to do everything that they didn't stop to think if they _should_, and became power-obsessed. To them, a weak Everlasting is a worthless one."

Luffy curled up on his side and traced a pattern over the comforter with his pointer finger. His voice became softer, and Zoro could see that -super powers or not- the boy's fit had taken a lot out of him. He was worn down.

"When the fights trickled over here, Ace decided to take a stand. I stood with him, and we made it clear one night that the East Wing would be fight-free from then on. They hated that, but since they still can't work together due to their 'mightier than thou' complexes, we've been able to fend them off for all this time. Ace and I are the only exceptions to the trap of anger the others got trapped in, and it's a lucky thing that we happen to be stronger than them. You see, the others here help, but when trouble comes there isn't much they can do. That's why if the West Wingers ever figure out teamwork, we would be in trouble. They would take the Wing back, and then what would happen to the people over here?"

Zoro, who had been listening avidly, put in two cents. "It sounds like power is the real enemy of the West Wingers."

Luffy fiddled with a pillowcase in silent consideration for a long time before answering. "I suppose, but our powers are what heal us and give us the energy to disperse and protect ourselves. Without them we would be helpless."

Zoro wasn't clear on how exactly they hurt each other in the forms they had. He assumed blows were landed when they were solid, but then with powers like theirs, an injury could be something not so physical at all. He wanted to know, but as he glanced at the window and saw how dark it was, he knew that it would have to wait. Zoro could tell when Luffy was winding down for the night. "But what if everyone had equal power?"

"What if everyone were free to leave? There are many 'what if's, but as they aren't possible, why dwell on them?"

Zoro laid back on the bed. "I understand."

Luffy pushed himself up off the bed with a rare yawn and pulled a big plushie chair over next to the window before flopping into it in the glow of the starlight. "That's better," he sighed.

Zoro chuckled and brought pulled up the blankets on the bed before snuggling into bed. "We just keep wearing you out, don't we? And tomorrow we're right back at it. Pffuhh… I'm tired."

"Aye… It's no big deal. It's my fault for falling behind on doing this in the first place. It's embarrassing."

Zoro was pleased. Luffy was getting better about talking with him. The boy was afraid to do it, for sure, but bit by bit, he was starting to get used to Zoro's presence.

_Just look at him,_ Zoro thought to himself with a smile as he watched the boy rock back and forth in the window light with his feet on the glass_. He went from having an emotional break down to playing in a cushy chair... Before this place hurt him, I'll bet he was a real monkey to try and keep track of. …I want to bring him out of his dark places, away from this Hill, and help him defeat all those painful memories that haunt him._

Luffy snuggled deeper into his chair and curled up into a ball as the fire got warmer and rolled steadily, completely under control.

__

I want that more than anything…

"Good night, Luffy."

Zoro tucked into bed and had gotten comfortable before he heard the return whisper. "Good night, Zoro."

* * *

AN: Quick note: **Luffy and Ace and Usopp and all of them** **ARE NOT poltergeists, ghosts, vampires, or shadow-people**. They're something of my own creation. After this chapter, that might be more clear, but I just wanted to make sure that people were on the same page there and not thinking that i'm going to pull a Speilburg on you. I promise you that this whole premise here is completely original and even legally copyrighted to me. There are many things that inspired it: "Stephen King's Rose Red", and "The Shining". There was also the atmosphere that was built up in M. Night Shyamalan's movies, "Signs" and "the Sixth Sense", but what these beings in this story are, and the issue with the Hill itself, are both something different from any other spector story i've read about. To tell the truth I almost cut that scene where they talked about the poltergeist movie because I thought it might be too misleading from where I need you to do in your ideas, but i decided to keep it at the last minute.


	10. The Rising of a Storm

Thank you Ajha Reyn, for betaing this chapter so wonderfullly. This chapter is comprised of a set of scenes that were originally to happen in chapter nine, but ended up being too early, so most of them were bumped back.

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

10

_The Rising of a Storm_

After breakfast the next morning, Zoro announced that he had to run to town before they started their meandering evaluations again, so they got started a little late. But as much as Kuina was loath to be back at it, they all found themselves -including their three extras- standing outside the next door in line to be checked.

The day was slow and very much like the last two had been. Zoro saw a raven-haired woman on the fourth floor whom he'd never seen before in one of the rooms. She smiled mysteriously as she watched them look over her room in approval, and Sanji spent time complimenting the gorgeous beauty that had no doubt owned this room last. There were many bookshelves full from top to bottom with various books that captured both Zoro's and Sanji's interests - books on archaeology and world religion and history and languages and culture, and several regular just-for-fun novels as well. Zoro felt a little hesitant to just shoot across the room and start looking through the woman's things, but when he looked at her in askance and gave her a bow (hoping that no one would notice him bowing at a random chair…), she laughed at him and nodded.

Nami went over to this woman to talk with her and bemoan their exploration while Usopp flopped onto her bed and relaxed for a bit. Zoro gathered that her name was Robin, and that she was obviously a scholar of some type, though her specific area was a little hard for him to narrow down based on what he had in front of him. He also noticed very well that Luffy actually stepped just into the doorway of her room, and when she greeted him with a smile and a "hello, Luffy," he gave her a little bow and tried to offer her a timid smile.

Zoro was wondering if maybe it was the presence of another in the room now that made Luffy act so quiet. But he always spoke so highly of Nami when he spoke of her at all, and Usopp didn't act like he had anything against the smaller boy. They'd both been very worried about him when they'd asked Zoro to protect him from himself and the Shifting (whatever _that_ was…).

There was something in this set up that Zoro was missing. The fact was that Luffy didn't act this way when he was alone with Zoro, put plain and simple. There had to be a reason for it.

When they finally finished their inspection that afternoon no one was more relieved than Kuina to hear it. Now she wouldn't have to leave Syd locked up for so long.

* * *

It was later on that Luffy entered his bedchamber to find a paper bag on his bed. He'd never seen it before, so he went over to look at it. It was full of hardback novels. New ones.

He poured out the contents onto the bed and just looked at them for a moment before picking one up to read the back cover. This wasn't a sci-fi or a mystery at all. This had pirates and adventurers and a journey to a volcano to find an army that the heroes could enlist to help protect their home from the evil scourge of the seas that was heading for their shores. And there were a bunch of riddles and songs that would lead to the discovery of the mysterious sword that held great power, and it just went on and on!

Luffy was interested right away and looked back at the cover to see that it was the seventh in the series. He put the bag down to hunt for the first one. There had to be sixteen books in the bag! He found the first book and read the cover excitedly: _Redwall_ by Brian Jacques.

Luffy looked at his bedchamber door, and back at the book in his hands. Maybe it was presumptuous, but after what he had said yesterday, would Zoro mind if he read just a little bit of it…?

He teetered for a few more seconds before crawling onto the bed and curling up on the pillow.

* * *

Zoro walked into his room to find Luffy curled up on the bed, completely immersed in one of the books from the bag he had laid there earlier.

He walked right up to the boy and watched him for a few moments, unnoticed. Luffy really was a cute kid. His toes curled and uncurled as he read an exciting scene, and Zoro hated to pull him out of it, but when he sat down on the bed, Luffy jerked to alertness and froze as if he'd been caught doing something terrible.

Zoro grinned at him. "What do you think? You like them?"

"Oh!" Luffy sat up and scrambled to put the book back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt anything, I just thought that maybe just for a minu-"

"Luffy, it's fine. I wanted you to read them. Do you like them?"

Luffy slowly rested the book back in his lap. "…Aye. They're really great."

"They're yours."

"…Mine?"

"Mm-hm," Zoro nodded.

Luffy was perplexed. "Why?"

Zoro shrugged. "Why not? If you want I can call it a thank you for letting me share your room, and letting us tromp all over your home. I really appreciate it. I read these books when I was younger, and they came to mind yesterday when I was talking with you about stories. I thought you might like them, so I took a chance." He hoped he hadn't been to forward with Luffy. The kid looked like he was at a loss for what to do.

"Is it okay?" Zoro asked, hoping he hadn't scared the boy off. Luffy was so volatile it was hard to be sure what was okay with him.

In answer, Luffy smiled shyly and laid back down again to look at the new book that was his. "…Thank you." It had been so long since he'd gotten a new thing just for him. He felt a feeling well up inside of him that he hadn't felt in a very long time; that feeling of self-worth. That there was something in him that someone other than his family might like enough to earn him gestures of kindness without the ulterior motive of maintaining overdependence on his power. That was another thing power did: it gained you false friends. So was this act as selfless as it seemed? But Zoro had never asked him to do anything for him, except perhaps keep him company. Zoro wasn't trying to buy him.

_Zoro…_

Zoro patted his knee. "I've gotta go down to dinner. You have fun reading."

With that, he left.

Luffy watched the door that Zoro had left through for a few minutes. Zoro was really great. Luffy wanted so badly to be his friend, and to have him as a friend, as well. Things would be so much more bearable with Zoro in his life… but the last thing he wanted was for Zoro to become trapped and suffer… But still the need for his own companionship fought with his desire for Zoro's well-being. Despite the repercussions that could result, Luffy wanted. He really _wanted_.

"I'm so selfish…" He slowly found his place again and continued to read to escape the troubling thoughts and selfish desires.

* * *

That night when Zoro slept, a lonely feeling entered his dreams. He was alone in a dark place where it was cold and empty, and his voice echoed back at him for no one else to hear. There was a light in the distance, but it was too far away to touch and feel, and the warmth it gave was small. All he could do was watch it float forever out of reach. He heard crying and quiet pleas for salvation, but he couldn't place the voice. Still, he knew that the feeling as a whole was a distantly familiar one.

* * *

Sanji was having a weird morning. He hadn't slept well because he kept hearing voices in his head (never a good sign, but it was probably a dream), and when he'd walked down to the kitchen that morning, someone had made eggs, but he was pretty sure that no one else was up in the house yet. Zoro was the only one who would have been able to manage scrambled eggs, but sunny-side up, still hot and yolks unbroken? The Incredible Hulk would have had an easier time.

That wasn't the only thing wrong with the picture. There was a distinct scent of woman's perfume in the kitchen, and Kuina was too young for that.

All this led the blonde to the conclusion that someone else was in the house with them… and they liked eggs.

_Or not. _His cousins were playing some kind of a joke on him, and he didn't appreciate it one bit.

When Kuina dragged her feet through the door with Zoro yawning flamboyantly behind her, Sanji confronted them both to get matching blank stares. Because he didn't want them to get the impression that they had gotten to him in any way, he pretended to let it go after that, and they ate breakfast in peace because Zoro was distracted and Kuina was still groggy.

* * *

After breakfast Sanji headed down the hill to call his father with an assessment of how things were going, and just to talk to him. Much like Zoro, Sanji was truly his father's son, and he missed Zeff.

While he was out, Zoro challenged Kuina to a chess game in a sitting room full of plushie chairs in the front of the house. The room was in neither wing, Luffy had said before that what wasn't in a wing was generally unoccupied and rarely visited, so Zoro felt fairly certain that he wouldn't be put in danger by staying there for a little while. As thrilling as the mystery was, everyone needed a break from Fantasia now and then. Besides, he needed a warm-up game or two.

Kuina accepted, and she and Sydian followed Zoro into the sitting room where the board had been previously set up; probably years ago. They both pulled up chairs and Kuina took the first move.

It was over before it really began. Twenty two moves left the loser baffling over the board for several minutes before deciding that his sister had obviously been practicing.

Deciding he'd had enough chess for the moment, Zoro agreed when Kuina asked if he wanted to come out front and play catch with Sydian.

Syd stole the Frisbee from Kuina before the step-siblings had even made it past the tree line separating the black, dead, front yard from the front circle, and came running up to Zoro with it. Zoro made the first throw, and they were off. Sydian, being a purebred terrier, was inherently good at games like Frisbee, and made many spectacular jumps and catches. Indeed, it was a challenge to throw the Frisbee so that he _couldn't _catch it. Eventually the two made a game of tossing the Frisbee to each other in a game of Keep Away from Syd that the dog was a natural at.

The yard, as far as Zoro could see, was primarily empty. He threw the Frisbee back to Kuina and glanced at the drivepath before doing a double-take. There was a man standing down by the front gate, and a few other Dwellers looked to be patrolling the fence at the edge of the property. Zoro wondered why. Were they standing guard? Because they certainly weren't interfering with he and his sister.

"Zoro!"

Zoro heard his sister's cry a moment before he was clocked over the skull with the Frisbee. He belatedly caught it and tossed it back to his laughing sister who was trying to ask him if he was alright, but was coming up short of convincing.

As time passed, those patrolling along the fence began to take interest in watching the game, and Zoro even heard some laughing as they clustered into groups to lounge around and point, oblivious to the fact that they had an audience as well. This kept the game from getting boring to Zoro, but after a while he noticed who wasn't there and glanced down towards the gate. Was the man down there who was standing so vigilantly over the gate the same presence that he had felt when he had first arrived at the Hill and pushed said gate open for their car to pass through?

Said vigilante must have felt Zoro's eyes on him, for he turned to pierce Zoro with golden eyes so fierce that he felt his blood run cold for and instant. Yep. That was the same presence, alright. He felt like a creature that a predator had just chosen for its next meal. The man was not large, but tall and slender. He wore a richly decorated robe and Zoro's first guess upon beholding him was that he was a Baron or a Duke of some sort. He had a very regal stance with long dark hair, sallow skin and a slightly pointed nose, but those gold eyes stood out from the rest of him like a hawk's gaze.

The man made no move to leave his position at the gate, but Zoro felt his eyes on him and it made him tense. Nervous to a point where Kuina started to ask if he was really alright after all, and Zoro had to try harder to act normally.

That was about the time that another man -one who had been watching Zoro's predicament with great humor- evidently decided to come to his rescue. Zoro was watching the Frisbee and couldn't get more than a glimpse at what was happening at the bottom of the Hill, but he could hear the other man's voice as he jovially approached the unapproachable hawk-eyed man and try to socialize with him.

The hawk-eyed man looked a little unsure of what to do with this happy man that was hanging around him and ignoring his glares, but eventually the second man made him relax a bit and Zoro felt the intense eyes leave him.

_There are loonies everywhere_, Zoro thought about the red-haired man, and he appreciated it very much.

Eventually the sky began to change color. It became darker as afternoon settled. Clouds rolled in. The air smelled thicker. A storm was brewing off the coast twenty miles away. It was going to be a big one, and it was only a matter of time before it arrived.

As they went inside, Zoro hoped that maybe when he came outside later, he would get to talk to that man. He was the type of person that Zoro was inexplicably drawn to. Unfortunately, finding the man again might prove hard to do, because the only thing that Zoro would clearly recognize about him if they ever met again would be was his voice.

* * *

Sanji hung up the phone. His father had given him this huge list of chores to do, the primary of which was to figure out how to get a phone up on the Hill, or at the very least start discussing with the City Hall the possibility of having a signal tower erected in order to receive cell phone service. If they weren't willing to open up to the idea naturally (for surely if they were there would be a tower already erected) the word 'donation' usually gained a voice where regular speech failed. After all, money didn't talk; it screamed.

Sanji had given his current assessment of Homecoming Hill as accurately as possible regarding the physical status of the land and manor. The walls stood upright, floors were firm, moving appendages such as doors and drawers moved smoothly and soundlessly, time had preserved Everlasting Manor itself, and most of the furniture they had found was in amazing shape. The wiring needed quite a bit of work, but the plumbing was outstanding and the East Wing and center boilers had both worked when they had been turned on. On the outside, the backyard was vivid and full of life, the soil was tillable, and the front yard was an empty canvas on which they could paint any landscape with any colors they so desired. He and Zoro had recovered wine and liquor recipes in an office desk in the East Wing the day before, which boded well for the reestablishment of the Hill's former glory.

Zeff was audibly pleased with the condition as he heard it, and expressed his pride in all three of them for pulling together so well on a chance like this. Sanji had been pleased to hear the praise, for his personality was one that always desired to please, but it was a guilty pleasure this time.

Sanji had mentioned nothing of the graveyard in the garden. He had mentioned nothing of the ominous and even foreboding feeling he received when he entered certain rooms coupled with the bizarre temperature changes. The creepy feeling that he was being watched, that he wasn't alone. The feeling he had yet to share with even Zoro, whom he was sure would believe and understand him.

Zoro was a very accepting and even gullible person. His father was a direct descendant of some Native American bloodline, and he had been raised hearing bedtime stories told in the oral tradition and with the celebration of a couple holidays that Sanji couldn't understand. Sanji's mother had run away after he was born. He had never known her, and since he had been born of a surrogate mother -for his own had been unable to carry a child to term- he didn't even have the womb in common with her. Zeff was German, and very proud of it. He didn't swing with the beliefs and imaginings of Zoro's father - though they had been close friends - and Sanji had grown up missing the upbringing that Zoro had received. The open-mindedness toward all things supernatural that Zoro had inside was not something that Sanji had been taught to keep. Sanji was a practical person; a realistic person.

As a result Sanji was never willing to consider a possibility of something so phenomenal that it could not be explained by science without him having witnessed enough such evidence, himself. Because Sanji was very good at explaining things away, he had never had a problem before, but this place was throwing him a curveball. Zoro's behaviour was easily enough dismissed, as were the sudden temperature fluxes, but Sydian's behaviour? It had gone beyond the excitability of new smells. And the eggs coupled with the scent in the kitchen? He highly doubted that anyone had broken in to cook eggs.

While Sanji could explain the physical condition of Homecoming Hill, the metaphysical condition and its psychological effect was beyond his capabilities to render into words, and it made him distinctly uncomfortable. There was activity occurring in that house that was incompatible with the traditional alpha beta chi delta epsilon way of thinking; that constant line upon which everything had an order and fit into it perfectly. The letters were _all _there, but they were scrambled to form a mesh that didn't flow, instead arranging and rearranging themselves continuously like waves crashing on rocks wherein creatures scrambled to hide until the tide went out and the letters flowed properly again. Sanji felt like one such creature around whom the tide was starting to rise.

Man, when they opened this place it would be a huge success! The tourists were going to love it!

Exiting the little-used bus station, Sanji looked at the sky. Those clouds hadn't been there before. It was as if they had come from nowhere. He saw a pair of young women rushing to get indoors, and turned on the charm.

"Excuse me, fine ladies, but do you know anything of a storm front coming in?"

The older of the two, a blonde of about sixteen with freckles and her hair in braids, offered a slightly surprised look. "You haven't heard?"

_Sisters_, Sanji decided, _and younger looking up close_. He shook his head, slightly disappointed. "Afraid not."

"The clouds are supposed to stay in all week. There will be heavy rainfall on and off, but it doesn't take much to flood this area. I haven't seen you around before. Are you staying at Charlie's?"

"Oh, no. I just moved into the Manor up on top of the hill over there," he pointed, "and I don't really know anything about the area yet. I've only been here a few days."

The girls looked afraid of him all of a sudden. Sanji wondered what he had said.

"Homecoming Hill?" the one that looked to be about fourteen asked as they both backed up slowly.

Sanji almost sighed. _Not this again_. What was with these people? It wasn't like he was carrying a disease. "Yeah," he answered. "Do you know how the hills here hold up in rainfall?"

The older one grabbed her sister's hand. "Um… th-there can be mudslides, but not usually. Um… it was nice talking to you, but we have to go now. You know… because the rain's coming." That said, she turned and ran up the street, the smaller girl in tow.

Sanji watched them dart off and frowned. _Won't this be a fun place to live? _

He turned and headed back to the car, happy he had elected to drive the four miles to the bus station instead of walk as a chill set in.


	11. Starlight

**Homecoming Hill**

11

_Starlight_

Sanji had come home and made them all a nice cuppa when Zoro had announced that he wanted to go to his room and read. Kuina had sighed in disappointment, and Sanji had looked briefly suspicious for some reason that only God knew, but Zoro had finished his tea and headed upstairs, stopping only briefly to pick something up in the parlor. Zoro hoped that he wasn't hurting his cousin's feelings in any way. Usually he and Sanji would hang around together and talk about all kinds of things when it got quiet, but now that Zoro's attention was focused very much elsewhere and Kuina had her dog, he hoped Sanji didn't feel lonely.

But right now Zoro wanted to try talking to his roommate, and from what he could tell, Luffy was a fidgetter. He wasn't the type that would ever be able to sit still and tell his life story; he needed a distraction to give him to opportunity to disconnect intermittently, otherwise it would feel like a confrontation and his defenses would go up.

Zoro walked into his room, honing in the boy already therein. The fireplace was lit genuinely for heat this time, though it still wasn't burning anything, and Luffy was reading on the bed.

"Nice! It's warm in here," Zoro said, laying the chessboard on the bed and sitting down to set it up.

"Mm-hm," Luffy answered distractedly, turning his page.

Zoro finished setting up the pieces and turned to look at Luffy. "I know you're reading, but do you want to play?"

Luffy glanced up from his page, eyed Zoro, eyed the board, and smirked. "You want to go against me." Another stated question.

"Why not? It's just a game."

Luffy considered this and nodded. "Okay." He put his book aside and flipped onto his front to get into position. "Your move."

White pawn to e4.

Black pawn to e5.

"I saw some Dwellers today."

Luffy looked up at him. "You did?"

"Mm-hm. When I was playing Frisbee with Kuina and the dog. There were a whole bunch that came up and were watching us and laughing and talking. They seemed really nice. We had to go in before I could talk to any of them, but I want to go back out another day and see if I can meet some."

Luffy quirked an eyebrow. "Then go to the same place you were playing and don't explore. It could be like it is in here, and despite how nosy you are, I don't want wandering around and getting killed."

"Aye-aye captain."

Luffy actually stifled a laugh and nodded decisively. "Good."

"So, why are you and Ace so much stronger than anyone else on the Hill? You said it had nothing to do with being brothers," Zoro asked as he moved his knight to f3.

Luffy jumped his own knight to c6. "We're the only _Everlastings_ with this much power," he corrected. "I can't know about the Dwellers."

He looked thoughtful, and expanded on that after a moment. "That is, I can't be _sure _about the Dwellers, but if the only two Everlastings like this happen to be Ace and myself, then I THINK there has to be at least one outside who's the same. Maybe only one."

Zoro's brows drew together. "What makes you think so?"

Luffy looked pointedly at the board and brought out his rook. It was a few moments before he spoke. "Because there was one other that was taken at the same time as us."

Zoro's eyes softened. "And he's outside?"

Luffy nodded. He didn't look up, and didn't seem to realize he was doing it, but his fingers strayed brush over the brim of the straw hat lying beside him.

_Ahhh… _Now he was getting somewhere. "Is this person a relative of yours?" Zoro asked as he moved out his queen.

Luffy quirked an eyebrow at it, but said nothing and moved his bishop to the side of the board.

_Sensitive territory_…

Zoro was getting ready to try a different approach when Luffy answered, "Aye. He's my…"

He trailed off, bit his lip and sighed.

"Why isn't he inside with you?"

"Because he was outside when it happened," he whispered, distantly, his memory drifting. "He had just gone outside…"

The firelight brought out Luffy's features, and Zoro could see that they boy looked honestly and openly sad. He watched Luffy's hand lovingly and longingly touch the hat beside him. _He's lost a lot. No wonder he guards his heart so closely._

Zoro hadn't wanted to make the boy upset… He looked over at the fireplace. "Is that you and Ace in the photograph?" he asked, pointing to a family portrait hanging on the wall above the fireplace across the room.

Luffy looked at it. It was a brown and white picture that had been taken outside on a Warf, and then blown up to hang on the wall. A freckle-faced boy of about twelve was standing beside a pretty young woman with long dark hair and soft eyes. Standing adjacent to Ace was a laughing young man in his mid-twenties with hair that was probably red and sparkling eyes, wearing brown suspenders and a little boy of around seven or eight on his shoulders. The boy was holding the same straw hat that Luffy now had his fingers on behind his back and out of reach of the man supporting him, but that was not what gave him away.

The scar under his left eye matched Luffy's exactly, and Zoro wondered how a smile that happy would look on him now. It was untraditional of most boring family portraits in which no one smiled and all were in their Sunday best. It represented a truly happy family, and it made Zoro smile to see it.

It did not do the same for Luffy. There was no distant look of nostalgia or even longing in those eyes when he looked at it. There was only the passive gaze held by one who had looked upon it a million times in longing before refusing to acknowledge what it was really of anymore. Shutting things out was the only defense he had left.

"Aye," he finally answered simply while capturing a pawn.

"Where was it taken?"

Luffy shrugged.

"How old were you?" Zoro tried again.

Luffy looked up at him. "Why do you care?"

Zoro was slightly taken aback as the fire changed colors across the room. "I just want to know you," Zoro answered.

"Well I don't want to know you," Luffy retorted.

"That's fine," Zoro acknowledged. "I'm pretty boring. There wouldn't be much to tell."

Luffy snorted and looked back at the board. _No you're not…_ _You're anything but._

"But I want to know about your life and about what made you who you are now."

"You don't know anything about who I am now," Luffy answered. _And it would hurt a whole lot less in the future if you never found out. _

Zoro frowned and tilted his head. "Why don't you like to talk about yourself?"

Luffy met his eyes before answering, "Because those things don't matter anymore." He looked at the picture again. "Who I was… it's gone now. None of it matters anymore."

"You matter."

Luffy was now looking at him with a bored expression …which dissolved slowly as he looked into Zoro's eyes. The fire slowly turned dark red as it heated much more than it should have. Zoro's compassion was visible in his expression, and there was no lie in his voice. To Luffy it was enough to be amazed about all over again. Amazed and scared, for receiving Zoro's acceptance was one thing, and the thank you gift of books had felt good, but _compassion_ was a different ship altogether.

He gently shook his head. "It's white's move," he said finally, and looked back at the board. The fire had turned back to normal.

Zoro didn't move for a few moments, just looking at the boy in front of him. Why was he pushing Zoro away so hard? What had happened to him to make him so afraid? He wasn't as invincible as he thought he was, and Zoro had to show him that. He leaned forward and took Luffy's knight with his queen. _Ahaha_, Zoro's ego inflated.

Luffy's bishop came from the side where he had tucked it so long ago and took Zoro's queen. "Check."

Zoro's ego got a hole popped in it like a balloon, and it whizzed around the room before landing in the corner over there.

Despite the sudden turn of events in Luffy's favor, Zoro knew the boy was still sad, so he decided to turn the mood around. "Who was the blonde girl I saw in the hall the other day? She seemed nice."

Luffy perked a little. "That was Kaya. She's the newest Everlasting, and she's really sweet. You'd like her." He leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "She's Usopp's only."

"His only?"

Luffy nodded and lifted up his pinky finger.

Ohhh, his _only_. "I'd like to meet her, along with some of you other friends," Zoro smiled, moving his remaining bishop two spaces. "It seems polite to introduce myself, and it might be fun."

"You think so?" Luffy asked unsurely, sliding his rook to the middle of the board.

"Sure, why not?"

Luffy pushed himself to sit up a little more and put on his hat. He considered the request for a moment before nodding. "I guess we could do that, if you really want to."

_As soon as the spotlight's off of him he does okay_, Zoro made an internal note of it. As a matter of fact, Luffy seemed relieved to be able to drop his cool act, and the fire got warmer as a result. _Must be exhausting to keep up appearances so much._

"I've liked everyone I've met here so far. Well, except for that one lady," Zoro added with a grumble.

"That one lady?" Luffy asked, the curiosity audible this time.

"Yeah. I meant to tell you the other night, but it was too late so I waited and then I forgot. There was a woman in the dining room a couple days ago when my family and I were eating. I've never seen her before, and she didn't look friendly at all. I haven't seen her since."

Luffy sat up all the way. "What did she look like?"

"She was tall, slender, blonde… older than I am. She had eyeglasses and her hair was very long. She made the sound disappear for me when she looked at me. I couldn't even hear our dog barking- What's wrong?"

Luffy had slowly flopped back on the pillows and was now staring at the ceiling. "Califa," he sighed. "That was probably Califa. She's from the West Wing. She didn't hurt anyone, did she?" he asked, lifting his head off the bed to look at Zoro.

"No, she left quickly, but she did look at me like she was checking for something first. It was unnerving."

"I'll bet," Luffy scoffed.

Zoro captured one of Luffy's pawns with one of his own. "Why was she there? The kitchen's in the front of the house. I thought you guys stayed in your wings to avoid confrontation."

"Avoid confrontation? West Wingers? Consider whom you're talking about," Luffy laughed mirthlessly. "No, no. Anyone can go into the front of the house, they just have no reason to, so they don't. But every now and then anyone would get bored of that and need a change, I suppose. The problem is that they're after our wing, so in addition to the rare excursion, they spy on us now and then to see if -by some random chance- there's an opportunity for them to take it. They're not the only ones guilty of this, though. We spy on them when we catch them spying on us so that we don't get ambushed. Of course, there's a risk of ambush for those spying behind enemy lines anyway..." Luffy droned in oral thought to hear the sound of his own voice. "On the other hand it was very likely that she was just taking a walk. Maybe she saw you or heard you guys by chance and got curious. ...They're not criminals. Nor do they deserve to be treated as such. They just..."

"I'm surprised you defend them," Zoro said honestly. "I was under the impression that you didn't like them at all."

"...I'm not fond of them, and there are some that I truly wish I would never have to deal with again... but I don't hate anyone."

Zoro smiled. _You're a really good kid, Luffy. I wish you could see it._

Luffy rolled over and crawled off of the bed. "I should tell the others about this. I'll see you later."

"Wait, I wanted to meet them, remember?"

Luffy stopped and bit his finger. "Aye. But not tonight. There's little time before dark, and you still need to eat with your family. You'll want more time with them than what you have now. They're all really fun. Plus they'll all get excited and never let you leave Ace's room," he rolled his eyes here, "so you'll need more time anyway. I need to tell Ace about Califa now."

He started for the door.

"Our game?" Zoro called after him, then shook his head, "Ah, we can finish it later."

Luffy looked at the board for two seconds, crossed the room, and moved his queen one space diagonal to his rook, in line with Zoro's king. "Mate."

* * *

While Luffy was gone, Zoro had plenty of time to think about what he was going to do about him.

Zoro knew that Luffy was watching every move both of them made like a hawk, and it looked like Luffy was aware that the best defense was offence, because he knew how to push people away and keep them there. It was his survival mechanism.

If Zoro wanted to get close to Luffy, he would have to come in through the back door. Luffy had been right; why should Zoro try so hard to learn about his past when he could work in the now and get Luffy to come to him? If he backed off, then maybe Luffy would give a little, as well, and things would be allowed to develop on their own so long as they kept interacting with each other.

Besides, Zoro had another puzzle to put time into. Luffy was alive, Nami was alive, but he was sure that they were among the minority. Whatever had happened to them, whatever was keeping them here had to be undone. Ace had said that he'd been twenty two for over seventy years. That made this place an absolute prison that offered no escape of any kind. Zoro couldn't let them stay this way. He wouldn't if he could help it. There had to be a way.

* * *

Though served late, dinner for Zoro came and went, and before long he was entering his bedroom to a fire in the fireplace for the second time that day. It wasn't a warming fire, but the flames rippled with different colours, and Luffy was standing in front of the hearth, watching them dance in a trance of thought.

"Hey," Zoro greeted. "What are you doing?"

Without looked away, Luffy answered quietly, "Waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"A lot of things."

_Back to this distant behaviour again_, Zoro thought sadly. What would it take to bring Luffy past this?

"What did your brother say?"

"We can't do anything about Califa but wait and see what happens. Communication is poor over there, so you never know if word will spread or not."

"Okay… Then what did he say about meeting some more Everlastings?"

_So eager to get away from me? _Luffy thought sadly. It was a good thing that Zoro would be distracted from him, and he'd known it could only have been temporary anyway. If it hurt that he would be losing Zoro's company, than it only meant that it was past time for Zoro's attentions on him to be severed.

"They liked the idea. Some of them would like to meet you tomorrow. Ace will come get you when they're ready."

"They have to get ready for me? It's not an event."

"Hm. Anyway, they're nice. It should be fun for you."

"Just for me? Aren't you coming?"

Luffy shrugged.

"I'd like it if you did," Zoro persuaded.

Luffy fidgeted slightly, but didn't respond.

Zoro watched the boy watch the fire for a while before he stepped up to stand beside him. Luffy didn't move away from him, and Zoro put his hand on a smaller shoulder. Luffy jumped at the contact at first, and then relaxed into it.

"Luffy?" he asked quietly, breaking the silence. "Are you okay?"

It was quiet for a few moments, and then, "What do you mean?"

"You still look tired, and you said you'd need a few nights to recover, but there's no starlight tonight. Are you going to be alright?"

"Aye. I'll be okay. I didn't get as much last night as I wanted to, but it's enough for a while with the way I use it. I don't really use a lot of power. Not like how Ace needs to. I just use it when I need it for little things."

"What does it feel like?"

"What does what feel like?"

"Starlight. Is it warm, or…?"

Luffy closed his eyes and hugged himself. Zoro rubbed his back. "It's not really warm, exactly… but it feels alive. It dances, sort of."

"Starlight dances over you…" If only it were really as beautiful as it sounded.

Luffy nodded. "It feels… like it's trying to encourage us. And we get stronger from it." He was acting especially acquiescent tonight…

"It feels like things aren't completely hopeless sometimes?"

Luffy nodded. The fire got warmer and Luffy glowed a little stronger. It was really amazing to witness. Luffy was a teeter-totter of emotion. He would push Zoro away and keep himself alone. Then someone could sneeze and suddenly Luffy would accept touch, but not encourage it. He _wanted_ the loneliness to stop, but he wouldn't bring himself to _seek_ for the loneliness to stop.

So what was stopping him? What was he afraid of?

"S-sometimes I talk to them…" Luffy confessed hesitantly, actually sounding ashamed. "How pathetic is that?"

"I think it's a nice thing to do. They must get lonely."

Luffy hugged his chest. "You don't have to be mean about it."

"I'm not at all," Zoro assured, keeping his eyes on the flames dancing in the air of the otherwise empty fireplace. "You see, my dad used to tell me lots of stories about Native American folklore and legends, and when I was younger there was one legend that told of how when people die, they become stars and watch over us, granting help and giving light when the sun and the moon go out."

Luffy didn't react but to incline his head a little, so Zoro assumed he was waiting for more. "You see, some Native American religions hold that when a member of the tribe dies, their spirits become very powerful once released from their bodies; too great to stay on earth, so they have no choice but to leave and go up into the sky. But they haven't forgotten about their descendents, and they can be called upon to deliver justice to their people. Even from up there they keep their legends alive to us by making pictures in the night sky to tell their stories."

Zoro squatted in front of the fire to warm his hands. "So it's not strange to talk to the stars, you see? Sometimes we're not as alone as we think we are."

Though he knew better than to look because Luffy would immediately hide it, Zoro could hear the little smile in his voice.

"That would be nice," the boy whispered. Then a child-like curiosity came forward. "But why would the Indians give us strength if we're not Indians like them?"

Zoro shrugged and straightened. "I don't know. Maybe they just like you."

Luffy lowered his eyes. "Then they're too far away to get a good enough look at what's happening here."

Zoro offered him a small shrug. "Or maybe when they look at you they see what I see."

Luffy closed his eyes. "Well, maybe you don't see anything, either."

"I see more than you think," Zoro answered.

Luffy frowned. "Well, do yourself a favor and stop looking. You won't find anything good in this place."

"I found you."

Luffy didn't answer, but the fire turned bright red and the temperature skyrocketed.

Zoro inwardly smirked and looked back at the flames for a moment before turning and heading to the wardrobe to get changed for bed.

Was this embarrassment he was detecting? Was this a blush? Because if it was then it was adorable, plain and simple. It would only get cuter when Zoro got him back to normal. And he would get him back to normal. That was his mission.

Trying to save a hundred or something people was an awful heavy load, so Zoro would focus on saving Luffy. Luffy wasn't a lost cause yet, but he needed to be saved from himself as well as from the Hill, so Zoro would concentrate on saving Luffy, and the rest would be saved at the same time by default.

It was a good plan. …Or a mission statement. It wasn't really a _plan_ yet because plans led to the solution, and Zoro didn't even have a starting point.

When he turned back around to ask Luffy a question, he found himself alone in the room with a now-warming fire.

* * *

Luffy stopped in the hallway the linked the two corridors and wiped at his wet eyes. "Damn it," he whispered. He was trying so hard to keep Zoro away, but he was so tired of being lonely… Didn't the Outsider know a bad thing when he felt it? Didn't he realize what could happen to him if he stayed here? Why was he still here, and why was be being all… _like this_?

_He's making it so hard for me. …He's so nice. WHY does he have to be so nice? How can he possibly be so nice to me? He doesn't know me at all._

He leaned against the wall and pressed his forehead to it. "That's right, he doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know he's in danger. He doesn't know anything at all… that's why he can act like this. He doesn't know… I have to protect him." He slid down to his knees and let out a sob. "God, I'm so lonely…" But when he was with Zoro, he never felt alone. Even if only for short periods of time, whether he recognized the dangers of the Hill or not, Zoro could make Luffy feel better about himself. Like he was being forgiven. He didn't deserve to after what he'd done, but it was so wonderful…

He took a shuddering breath and looked up toward the ceiling. "Shanks… what do I do?"

* * *

Zoro had been sleeping for hours when a sound trickled into his dream and woke him. It was so soft that it took him a moment to realize that it was crying, but once he did he decided he should ignore it and go back to sleep, because Luffy had said that the babies cried at night in the Manor.

But it occurred to him as he listened that this wasn't a baby, and he registered the feelings that were misting around the room. Zoro knew this feeling; he had felt it in his dream the night before. The love and despair that flowed slowly and evenly through the air was something that Zoro finally was able to place in his sleep-fogged mind as a channel. It wasn't a strong one, so Zoro hadn't been sure at first, but he recognized the heart it came from. The channel was meandering instead of aimed, and it probably felt softer to him because Luffy was way over by the window and not in physical contact with him. But then what did it say about its strength if he could feel it from the bed across the room? Like before, everything that was in Luffy's soul overflowed and poured into the room around him; directionless despair and blame, desperate hope and passionate love with no place to go.

If he got up, he was sure that Luffy would put him straight back to sleep, but if Luffy was crying then shouldn't he try to comfort him?

But comfort him from what? He had no idea what was wrong, and if he moved to look, Luffy would know that he could hear him and would be embarrassed or upset, and that wouldn't help Zoro's situation with him at all.

The crying -already so soft- stopped then with a shuddering sigh of resignation, and it became quiet. Zoro was left to consider this new puzzle piece. He was sure now that the sound he had heard on other nights before this one -the one that he hadn't really registered before- had likely been Luffy, as well. Did Luffy cry by the window every night around the same time? What could trigger something like that?

* * *

AN: Your reviews and guesses are all awesome. Many of you got very excited last chapter when you decided that Shanks must be a Dweller, and that made for some very cute responses. Quick shout outs- **Clarobell**, **Shiruji-chan**, and **Plushie**: you all made some REALLY great observations in your reviews that helped me a lot with knowing how i'm doing at this whole hint thing. Plushie, thank you for emailing me those extra reviews. You touched on some great stuff. **QuirkQuirk** and **yo waz up,** the enthusiasm you two show always makes me laugh!

IMPORTANT DETAIL: The kitchen and dining room are NOT in a wing, so anyone can wander into them. They just have no real reason to, so they usually don't. They're in the front/middle of the house, in the area generally devoid of Everlastings. That's why Califa and then the egg-chef both went in and out without being noticed by either side.


	12. 1969?

**Ahja Reyn** did another awesome job with making this much less confusing for all of you, because I had phased several things oddly and then not explained other things, so you should all try to remember to give her a HUGE THANK YOU if you review!

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

12

_1 9 6 9 ?_

Zoro was reading an anthropology book called _Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion_ via candlelight, because the sunlight that was normally muted by the shadow of the house was now hidden by clouds, making it rather dark in the room. It was from the class he had had to take of the same name, and it was giving him nothing. It would have more appropriately been called _African and New Guinea Tribes People Attuning to the Spirit World_, because all it talked about really was Shaman's getting high and 'seeing people'. He had known this going in, but (as no one in college ever actually read a text from cover to cover for a prerequisite class) he had still been hoping to find something useful.

_Anthropologists… _Zoro thought with an exasperated eye roll. The native stories he'd learned as a child had taught him more about spiritual magic than _this_ book could.

He was about ready to throw the book across the room when he felt a tap on the shoulder that startled that bejesus out of him.

"Sorry," Ace apologized.

Zoro laughed a little and remembered how to breathe. "No, no it's fine."

"What are you reading?" Ace asked.

"Nothing useful," Zoro grumbled, dropping the book on the desk with a thump. "So you're here and Luffy's not. Do I get my wish, then?"

"Wish?"

"Do I get to meet some more people? It might be nice. I hope it's nice… Will it be nice?"

Ace stared at him for a moment before he burst out laughing. "Aye, you get your wish. And so does everyone else. It shall be nice, they all want to meet you."

"Where?"

"My room. It's rather a rendezvous right now for everyone who has nothing better to do than hang around and gossip, and with you here there isn't much that's more exciting than that. You ready?"

Zoro followed Ace into the hall. "What will happen if the other wing finds out that we're here, exactly?"

Ace shrugged. "No one can be sure, but they'll probably try to come over here. They are unpredictably violent and reason is long gone from their thought processes, so it's better they don't know. Still," he shrugged, "it's only a matter of time, and that time may be up."

Then he smiled at Zoro reassuringly. "You'll all be fine, no worries. We can handle whatever they throw at us."

Zoro shook his head. "I was never worried. I trust you and Luffy."

Ace's grin broadened. "Good. That's good. How is that going, by the way?"

Zoro frowned a little. "It's not really going anywhere, but not because I don't want it to. I want to be friends with him, and sometimes I think we're making progress, but then I'm pushed away again. Why does he fight so hard to keep others away? He's so lonely, anyone can see it. It's like he's punishing himself."

"He is," Ace said sadly. "That's part of it. He blames himself for things he shouldn't, and this is his self-appointed penance. But more than that, he's trying to protect the others from himself. He's very strong, and his control isn't what it used to be, but that doesn't make his solution right. It's so hard to watch him bottle everything up inside of himself and feel so helpless to stop it. The others have tried to talk to him, but I guess they're not doing it right, or maybe they're not the right ones. Luffy's always been drawn to certain personality types. And then I'm big brother, so you know that anything I tell him is automatically biased..."

Zoro tried to make the pieces fit. "I know he's not moody, he doesn't have an attitude problem, he's not shy, and he doesn't seem dislike anyone in this Wing. At least he hasn't said anything bad about anyone here… If he _is_ protecting you, then what would he need to protect you guys _from_?"

Ace took a while to answer. "…There are some things in every reality that cannot be reversed no matter what," he finally conceded. "But he talks to you, doesn't he?"

Zoro nodded. "Quite a bit, actually."

Ace looked incredibly relieved. "You have no idea of the miracle you've been witnessing, do you?"

"Not completely, maybe, but I'm really starting to get the picture."

"Some of us go months without even hearing his voice. I'm blessed to be an exception, but I basically raised him by myself for years. And Nami… when she tries, he'll talk to her for a short period of time. She's usually pretty good at handling him like a big sister."

"I did find out something else interesting, though," Zoro said, patting his chest to make a thump-thump sound in the mimic of a heartbeat.

Ace stopped walking. "He told you _THAT?_"

"He didn't _tell _me. I suspected it, and then he let me check, but I don't know if he knows what I was checking for..."

"You mean he let you touch him?" Ace looked baffled.

"A couple times now. But back to the other thing, quickly. It's not everyone, is it? Usopp felt cold when I shook his hand, but then Nami was warm. That's why I suspected it."

Ace reached out and shook Zoro's hand suddenly only to let him feel it. It was warm like Luffy's. "Luffy has not mentioned anything about it, then?"

Zoro thought about it and said, "He said that there were two kinds of victims. The dead and the vanished. I don't know if that's…" He trailed off.

Ace nodded. "This is the difference between us. It goes no further than this, however. If you've heard anything about the history of this place in town then you know that there are many of both. As the rumors say, many have died here, but many people have simply vanished, or become unaccounted for."

_Don't ask why. There are some questions that we cannot answer, and that will gain you unwanted attention. So please don't ask._

Ace's voice left his mind, and Zoro met his eyes nodded earnestly. After that, he decided to drop the matter for safety's sake, and adopt a different direction of conversation.

"Okay. Then may I ask -and I understand if it's a private matter- why are you so surprised that Luffy lets me touch him? Is it so uncommon?" Zoro asked.

Ace nodded reassuringly. "That's a good question. Just know that it's one of those things you never want to bring up to him. He's very private about things like that, rightfully. Anyway, it's more than uncommon. It's very rare. It's not unheard of if he knows you well and you live in this wing, but he's shied away from contact since 1969."

"1969? You know the year?"

Ace nodded. "We know _that_ year…"

Now it was Zoro's turn to look baffled. "1969," he whispered. "What happened that year?"

Ace shook his head. "You don't need to worry about it. It's in the past now. I wish Luffy could accept that… but then how can I expect him to? Sometimes I'm quite selfish, you know? I ask a lot of him because I love him, but really I just want him to be okay. In the end all I can do is what I feel is best for him."

"You're his big brother," Zoro told him. "I can relate to how you feel. Kuina… sometimes I get carried away with trying to do what's best for her, and I lose sight of how what's best for her is for her to choose her own path."

"Aye, but your sister's choices aren't destroying her. Luffy… He used to be so happy and fun. He was snuggly and chatty and liked to sing and dance around. He loved making up his own rules for games and being hugged. He was such a huggy boy, he used to crawl into bed with me at night for no real reason except he wanted the company, and then he'd turn into this little Velcro and stick to me all night." Ace laughed a little at the memory, then his smile grew distant. "…Though you'd never think it to try to talk to him now. …He lets you touch him…" he whispered again in awe. "For decades I've been the only one able to… You're special, you know?"

Zoro put up his hands. "No, no, no. People keep saying that, but really he doesn't let me get near anything close to him. I touched him twice or thrice, but not in a way that matters."

"…You think not?" Ace asked with a tone of hint in his voice. "You sound awfully sure about it."

Zoro frowned. What was this guy getting at?

Then Ace's knowing expression turned into a warm smile. "Thank you. For being with him, I mean. You have no idea how much something so simple as acceptance can warm up a cold person. Sadly, acceptance is something mostly foreign to Luffy. He can't even come to terms with _himself_."

"I don't like that," Zoro said. "No one should ever have to hate themselves for having power they never wanted."

Ace nodded slowly. This Outsider was smart and kind. It was hard not to let hope rise that Zoro may yet figure out how to free them all, but Ace would be satisfied with a simple breakthrough for his brother. He ran a wing and was loved and respected by tens of people who depended on him for protection, but Luffy would always the most important thing in his world. "He's been such a hermit for so long… If you can teach him to play again, then maybe someday…"

"Whatever happened must have been intense to have such an effect on him," Zoro wheedled.

Ace said nothing.

Zoro flumped in disappointment. He had hoped that maybe Ace would help him figure out that part of the puzzle that was Luffy. But he had dropped a lot of information. Maybe Ace could help him with something else, provided they didn't have the same reason for being. "Ace? Why do the West Wingers hate Luffy? I heard from someone they did, and Luffy indicated the same thing a little while ago."

Ace started walking again. "It's because hatred and fear go hand in hand."

"They're afraid of him?" Zoro couldn't believe that anyone could actually spend some time around Luffy and then be afraid of him. "Why? Is it his power?"

"Aye, basically. They feel threatened around him because Luffy can do something that no one else can. Not even I. Plus he's very emotional, and when he feels something strongly or something triggers an emotion that takes him by surprise, the environment around him will react accordingly until he gets it back in check. So if he ever gets fired up, those around him had better watch out, if you know what I mean."

"Really, now?" Zoro asked. _That explains a few things._

Ace frowned worriedly. "Just between you and I, I'm worried about that day coming, because he might do something he'll never forgive himself for. He already has enough of that."

"What is the thing that only he can do?" Zoro asked.

Instead of answering, Ace put his hand on the doorknob that was now in front of him. It was the same door that Luffy had disallowed Sanji from opening on their exploration a couple days ago. "You ready?" That brought Zoro right back to the here and now. "Remember, there's nothing be intimidated about."

"Of course not. They're just people," Zoro agreed, figuring that somehow Ace had picked up on his nervousness. He wasn't really afraid per se, but he was metaphorically about to go into a deep dark cave with no idea what to expect. Still, he trusted Luffy, he trusted Ace. They had steered him clear of danger and been honest with him. They had given him no reason not to believe in them, so he stepped forward.

Ace grinned and pushed the door open a crack.

"RAAAH! ACE IS BACK! RAAAAH!"

Zoro hesitated until he heard Ace's voice in his head say -_That's just Tilestone. He's harmless-_ then Ace pushed the door open the rest of the way.

There were about ten Everlastings lounging around inside the room trying to look like they weren't restraining themselves from rushing him at once (so much so that Zoro suspected there had been a pep-talk about it). Everyone but Luffy was near the middle of the room around various game boards or flopped together on chairs - literally. There were two guys and a girl trying to crowd into one chair at once and push the other two out when Nami walked over and sprawled herself over all three of their laps.

Ace approached them first.

"I'm Nami," Nami informed informatively before laughing.

"So that's who you are! I've been wondering who has been stalking my family all week…"

She smiled at him and nodded decisively. Sure, it was corny, but Zoro liked her, she was like a whole different person with the group. She was fun. And she got exasperated with his elf of a cousin easily, which made her cool by default as far as Zoro cared to think about it.

"Okay, moving on," Ace mock-rolled his eyes. He pointed to the man beneath her legs and nodded.

Said man was wearing a black tuxedo and Zoro was not surprised a bit to find that his hand was like ice when he shook it. After all, men were put into tuxes before they were put into caskets, and a body had to be _found_ _before_ it disappeared in order for people to _know _that someone had died first and _then_ the body went missing before they could bury it. Even the mixed-up town rumors had mentioned that dead bodies vanished (or been stolen according to some) and there was only one way to know that. Of course, none of them would imagine that anyone up here was still walking around in their death-shroud…

Anyway, this guy had the squarest nose Zoro had ever seen, but a nice smile and a deep friendly voice. "Kaku," he said by way of introduction. "I'm a field hand whom I guess you can say was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You can say that again," said a blonde man off to the side that looked ready to kill Nami for her behaviour (though Zoro couldn't find anything really wrong with it).

"Zoro," Zoro returned with a smile. "I'm here to… well, I _was_ here to open this place to the public, but that doesn't seem like it will work out."

Kaku laughed and looked to the girl sitting beside him and smiled to let her know it was her turn.

This girl, the girl that Zoro had already seen, but not met, took his hand in her cold one. "I'm Sabina Kaya, and my room is right down the hall from you, next to your cousin's. It's nice to meet you."

Usopp was sitting beside her and waved. "Hi again!"

"Hi!" Zoro returned the jovial greeting. Usopp was a nice kid. A little loud, but Zoro had gotten used to him real fast.

"I'M TILESTONE!" the man who was Tilestone shouted loudly. He looked like he wanted to offer his hand, but Zoro gave him a wave to his side of the room because, frankly, Tilestone was a HUGE man with HUGE muscles and Zoro was slightly afraid that in his enthusiasm the 'harmless' man might accidentally break every bone in his hand.

The man that had been having a conniption fit beside Nami which was being ignored threw a pen at the mass of muscle with a name. "Tilestone, tone it down some, would ya? I'm Paulie."

Paulie didn't offer his hand, but that was fine because a pretty girl laughed beside him, lightening the situation. "Paulie, be nice," she patted his arm and Paulie acted like he'd been scalded.

"Don't touch me while you're in the skimpy little dress!" he insisted pointing that the blonde girl's legs.

The girl looked slightly taken aback. "I'm... sorry, but it's not like I can change…"

"Paulie, knock it off, please," Ace warned from next to Zoro.

Paulie looked at Ace and steamed for a moment before deflating and moving to sit in a nearby chair.

The girl looked nervous until Zoro reached out to gently take her hand. She allowed him to, and he was glad to find it warm. "I'm Zoro. Who might you be?"

The girl giggled softly. "Conis," she said, and gave him a curtsy that had Paulie groaning in disgust across the room.

Zoro laughed a little with her, and then turned to the dark beauty beside her in a high-backed Elizabethan chair.

The women smiled at him. "Nico Robin. It's very nice to meet you. Will you be staying long, now that your plan has backfired?"

"Oh yeah. I know it won't work, but my family doesn't. I'll have to come up with a doozy of an excuse to make it clear. In the meantime, I'll be here. Besides, I'm in no rush to leave. I'm far too curious. This place is quite the mystery."

Robin laughed again. "That it is," she agreed mysteriously. "I wish you luck."

"History is my forte," Zoro returned.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Is it now? It's mine as well."

"Hmm, perhaps you could help me with some literature, then?"

"Perhaps," her smile was the slightest bit cheeky.

Ace tapped Zoro's shoulder then and pointed to his bed. Zoro didn't see anything. "The bed?"

"Behind the bed. Chopper? Come out here and meet someone."

A very small boy with soft brown hair and the sweetest doe-brown eyes popped his head up over the side of the bed where he had been playing with blocks and came out from around the bed shyly.

The little boy was very young, so Zoro slowly squatted down right where he was to put himself at eye level with him. "Hi," he said quietly. "My name is Zoro. What's yours?"

"Chopper…" the boy answered in his babyish voice, slowly approaching Zoro to take the two offered hands.

"Chopper? That's a neat name."

Chopper giggled and squirmed. "My papa calls me that," he said.

"Oh yeah?" Zoro knew better than to ask where 'Papa' was. "How old are you, Chopper?"

"Six," he said proudly, putting his hands behind his back and doing his best to thrust out his chest like a big boy.

"Six years old? Wow, I would have guessed five, but here you're a man already!"

The boy giggled again and when he reached up to Zoro, Zoro picked him up. This boy was very much alive, as were half of the people in the manor that he'd touched so far, and Zoro just couldn't figure out how that could be.

* * *

Sanji handed Kuina her peanut butter sandwich.

"Stay out of the vines. You could trip or get bitten by a snake, or something. And so could Syd. God only knows what he'll dig up. Stay near the manor."

"Okay," Kuina said, taking her sandwich and pushing out of the kitchen with Sydian running in circles around her heels, barking for a bite. The two headed out into the backyard.

* * *

Luffy watched it all unfold. It must have been fun. They all looked so happy. Even Chopper was liking Zoro, and who wouldn't? Zoro was the most amazing person he'd ever met! Well, there was Shanks, of course, but Luffy was drawn to Shanks in a different way.

He watched Zoro lift Chopper into his arms and hold him, and his heart filled with a longing he had felt too many times. Zoro bounced the little boy and Chopper smiled shyly.

Zoro didn't know anything about any of them, yet he accepted them. Even more remarkable to Luffy was that he knew nothing of Luffy, but he played a game with him, he'd talked with him… he'd touched him. Despite the way that Luffy kept shutting him out and acting coldly, Zoro stayed with him.

At least he _had_…

In fact before now, Luffy had almost dared to pretend that Zoro wanted to touch _just _him, which was a dangerous thing to even imagine, but a part of him had still hoped. It made him feel special again; something that was so foreign to him it was scary to feel it again.

Before now, Zoro had always focused on _him_ because he'd never had anyone else to look at. Now that Zoro had met the others, he wouldn't want to spend time with Luffy anymore.

…Before now, Zoro had been _his_.

_Damn, Luffy, are you jealous? You're afraid to act friendly with him, but then you don't want anyone else to do it, either. That's hardly fair. What are you doing? Just a few days ago you were trying to get rid of him, as you still _should _be, but now that you have a chance to divert his attention and lose him, all you can think about is running over there and getting his attention back on you. You're getting too attached! Do you WANT it to happen again?_

No. Absolutely not. He never wanted THAT to happen again.

But even Luffy finally had to admit that Zoro _was_ different from last time… Still, that didn't make it safe.

But then the fact that it wasn't safe _didn't _change the way his heart pulled as he watched Zoro bounce Chopper and talk to the quartet dog-piled in the chair.

If only things were different. If only…

But they weren't different, and Luffy was cursed to spend his life looking in on what he could never have. He wished he was Chopper.

_If Zoro's not the one, at least he won't be lonely here… _Luffy thought sadly. He looked away from them all and tried his best not to envy the boy in Zoro's arms.

* * *

Zoro glanced around and spotted his missing person in the corner by the door, sitting alone at a table in front of a Go board on which he was placing stones for both the white and the black. Luffy had no opponent, and made no effort to get one. In fact, he made no attempt to interact with anyone at all. It was like a line was drawn between him and everyone else in the room, and he sat on his side of it looking over to the other in miserable solitude. Zoro had never seen anyone's eyes betray a desire for companionship so deep… But Luffy's was a loneliness that he made no attempt to quench.

The others made no attempt to visit him, either. They probably thought of such actions as futile after so many decades, and if Luffy was afraid to talk to them, trying to force him too much was harassment and would only make things worse.

Zoro plopped Chopper into Nami's lap. Usopp grunted under the added weight, and the rest laughed while Chopper snuggled to get comfy.

Zoro used the distraction to disconnect from the conversation, while at the same time, Paulie finally got twitchy enough to jump up to start lecturing Nami's bold behaviour on the chair (Paulie believed a good woman was a modest woman). He paced around the chair in agitated circles while Nami blew him off and Ace left Zoro's side to calm him down.

With that going on, Zoro walked across the room to approach the corner, and quietly asked, "Hey, Luffy, who's winning?"

Luffy almost jumped in surprise at being addressed, and looked up at the Outsider in confusion. Zoro merely smiled at him, arms empty of Chopper. He looked around Zoro to the scene behind him for a moment before looking back up again. He didn't understand it.

_Why is Zoro over here when everyone else is over there? _

"You know, that game works better with two people, I've heard," Zoro continued.

Luffy looked down at his hands in his lap and said nothing.

Zoro sat down. The squabble in the background was ongoing, and Zoro wanted to take advantage of the freedom of not having all eyes on him for a few moments. "Do you want to teach me to play? Then I can play it with you, if you need a partner."

Luffy arms slid up to hold each other. It made him look smaller. He shook his head.

Zoro gave him an out for it. "But then, it is pretty busy to teach a game in here…"

Luffy hesitated for a long moment, then nodded.

"Maybe later in our room, then?"

Luffy's brows drew together and he bit his lip as Zoro started to stand up, but nothing could have surprised him more than his next action. He meant to respond with a non-committing half-shrug, but instead he took a breath. "It- it's a little hard to explain," he whispered.

He felt Zoro's eyes on him for a moment before the Outsider lowered himself back into his seat. "I'm sure it is. But if you give me a chance, I may become a great partner for you."

As Luffy heard his words, he had to squash his hope that Zoro might not have been talking about Go anymore. "I think that would take more time than either of us have," he finally answered.

"Oh?" Zoro noised, questioningly. "You're that good, huh? Are you sure? Seeing as how you only play yourself…"

"I always win," Luffy returned cheekily.

"Yeah, but you always lose, too."

Luffy stopped in mid-placement and curled his fingers around the stone in his hand. He looked at the board in consideration for a moment, then he looked up at Zoro, then back at the board, then he glanced out at the rest of the room, and placed his stone like there was no one else sitting at his table.

Zoro looked out at the room, too, and noticed that most everyone had stopped arguing and Paulie was back in his chair, sulking.

Then Zoro heard Luffy's voice in his mind say, _I don't really play well with others anymore._

Zoro watched Luffy lay another stone, and whispered, "Maybe you're just out of practice. When's the last time you tried?"

Luffy hated how close to home Zoro struck sometimes. His silence answered Zoro's question.

Zoro knew that this conversation was done for now, but he had to wonder what would have happened if the others hadn't stopped fighting and started staring. For a moment Luffy had wavered. He'd wavered on his set silence and his apparent personal code of not interacting with anyone. It was only for a moment, but that one moment was enough time for Zoro to catch another glimpse of the scared boy under the mask. Someday he would get that mask off entirely. Somehow.

Then Chopper scampered across the room and grabbed Zoro's hand to pull him back over to the others as Conis asked him a question.

Luffy's eyes fell on his brother's and he noted the sad look in Ace's eyes before they were quickly hidden. Everyone else was acting like Zoro had never been over here, but Luffy knew when he was being carefully observed and monitored. This was all the Shifting's fault. It had everyone nervous, and Luffy understood that. But what he didn't understand was why they were all overreacting on his behalf. So he didn't glow as brightly as they did. Big woop-de-doo!

_Even if I don't show off, I am the strongest Everlasting on this Hill! _

He was in no danger.

* * *

Kuina chased Sydian through the backyard, careful to call him away from the grapevines when he got too close to them. She took another bite of her sandwich and looked up at the sky. It was so overcast, she wondered how it wasn't raining. She hoped there wouldn't be thunder. She hated thunder, and had for as long as she could remember. Lightning didn't bother her, but the noise of the thunder was spooky. Plus it made Syd freak out in her bedroom and she'd be trying to coax him out from under her bed all night long until he finally went to find Zoro. Syd always went to Zoro when he got scared.

Zoro was a good person to go to when you got scared, but then perhaps that wasn't fair, she thought as she looked above her to her brother's window. Was she biased…?

Nah. So Zoro was her favorite person. What was biased about that?

She giggled, took another bite, and looked down the slope to where the vines started perhaps a quarter acre away. The wind blew through them, making the leaves shake and make a noise she couldn't remember having heard anywhere before. Weird.

Beside her, Syd started growling at the vines.

"Syd? Whatsamatter boy?" She squatted down to try to pet him, but he only started growling harder, his fur standing on edge, and she pulled her hand back.

Was there an animal in the vines? Was that what he was growling at? Maybe it was time to go in, then. She was getting creeped out at his behaviour. Syd had been behaving strangely ever since they'd arrived here, and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Syd? Come on, boy, let's go in." She started back towards the house, calling her dog behind her.

When he didn't follow right away, she turned to call him louder, and froze as something flitted past the corner of her eye. She spun on it right away, but it was gone.

It was definitely time to go in. The stupid dog was making her nervous. She swore she had just seen someone standing right under Zoro's window where she had just been. It had looked like his whole body was clouded in a bluish billow of smoke.

"SYDIAN!" she shouted, finally getting the dog's attention off of the vines as she ran for the house. The dog turned and ran after her as she bolted through the courtyard, past the car, up the steps, and over the threshold.

"ZORO!"

* * *

In the East Wing, Ace and Luffy suddenly jumped up from where they were sitting on the bed and chair consecutively, and turned toward the door. Ace looked at Luffy sharply and gave him a nod. Luffy dispersed instantly and his presence left the room.

"What's wrong, Ace?" Nami climbed out of the laps of the three in the chair and stood beside them. Robin set her book down. Conis backed against the wall. Chopper hugged Zoro's neck more tightly in his arms, and even Paulie looked attentive.

_All this because Ace and Luffy stood up together? _thought Zoro. _Wow. _

"I don't know, yet. Maybe nothing," Ace answered, looking toward the wall that Luffy had apparently traveled through. Whispers broke out through the room, ranging from curiosity, to real worry, to fear.

Zoro didn't know what to make of the situation at all. _Is it the West Wing? Is it… _"Is it my family?"

Ace held up a hand for peace and kept looking for Luffy's return, which came only a moment later.

As soon as he felt Luffy's presence again, the room became instantly silent of whispers.

"What is it?" Ace asked as his brother took form in the room.

"_Zoro, we have to go_." Zoro heard Luffy's voice in his mind, as the smaller boy walked straight toward the door. Zoro set Chopper down on the floor and followed after him.

Luffy looked over his shoulder at Nami, who perked a little in surprise.

The rest of the room became decidedly edgy and fidgety as Nami followed the two boys out the door. As soon as the three had turned the corner, they could all hear the sound of those left behind all talking at once while Ace did his job to try and calm them before the bedroom door closed on its own.

Zoro turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "What is it, Luffy?"

Luffy looked nervous. "I don't know. Your sister is screaming for you and coming for our corridor, so we should be there."

"You need to know what's wrong?"

"We need to know what's not wrong," Luffy corrected.

Nami was watching Luffy with curious interest that Zoro didn't know what to make of. She looked excited just to be coming along.

"Zoro!" Kuina burst around one corner just as the three turned the opposite corner, and all of them were suddenly in the same corridor that their rooms were located in.

"Sprite, what is it?" Zoro asked as Kuina ran up and grabbed his sleeve, completely out of breath.

"Outside, in the vineyard… there's something… I saw a man in the side yard… but then he was gone. He just disappeared. He was just… under your balcony," she gasped, hand falling to her knees as he tried to talk fast and catch her breath all at once.

Zoro got down in front of her. "Did he talk to you? What did he look like?"

"No," she shook her head as Sydian came charging up behind her, barking at the two behind Zoro. "He didn't talk to me, because… That is, he looked big and tall with white hair, but I…I'm not sure he was real. I think it was Syd scaring me. He wouldn't stop barking at something and the wind was spooky…"

"So he disappeared?" Zoro wasn't sure if he should pretend to be confused or not. "You're sure there's no one out there?"

"…I think so, because no one could disappear that fast. But there _was_ something in the vines, because Syd was feral. He doesn't do that if there's nothing there. I think there must be an animal."

"She's going to be fine, Zoro," Nami piped, because Zoro's indecisiveness at how to handle the situation was swaying like a screen door in the breeze.

Kuina didn't respond or react to Nami's voice at all, and Zoro was sure that his sister still couldn't see Nami or Luffy. She would have reacted before now. Maybe it _was_ just a coincidence.

"Do you want me to check?" he asked her, walking beside her down the corridor. "It'll probably leave on its own…"

"Are you insane?" Nami asked behind him.

Kuina sighed. "No… it's nothing, I guess. I'll go tell Sanji to add wild animals to his list of problems."

Zoro went with her, thinking about what it meant that Kuina had seen something. He didn't think it was a big deal at all, especially since she didn't believe it. So she'd seen someone. That was fine. Nothing to worry about, anyway.

As they went down the steps, his mind wandered back to Luffy, as it was so often doing these days. He thought about the way the others in Ace's room took cues from the D brothers. While they'd listened Ace's words, Zoro had noticed that they had all been looking at Luffy's body language. The slightest bit of assertion from him gained their immediate attention.

_They put that kind of pressure on someone who doesn't want to be exploited. They trust him with their very existences. No wonder he loves and avoids them, _Zoro thought.

But that meant it was true and acknowledged to some extent by all of them; Luffy was stronger than Ace was. Strong enough to make him revered despite his seclusion.

* * *

Once the step-siblings had walked around the corner, Nami frowned. "She can't hear us."

Luffy gave her a nod. "It was an early sighting. I didn't expect them to come so soon."

"They're running out of time. We're running out of time with them," Nami said, leaning back against the wall with a sigh. "And we can't tell them anything. Not even Zoro."

"It could become troublesome for everyone if this continues."

"Quakes…" Nami hugged herself.

"Aye. And…" Luffy looked at the floor.

Nami raised an eyebrow. "And…? And if something happens, they'll leave?"

Luffy's silence was her answer.

Nami smiled and leaned forward to try and see his eyes. "Would you miss him so much if they decided to go? …Though I'm tired of being abandoned."

Luffy restrained himself from shooting her a cold look. Nami was kind to him. She didn't use him, and as much as he wanted her to stay away from him for her own safety, she tended to have a calming effect on him when she could spare him time. He really liked her. He didn't want to be mean to her. She was never mean to him. But then she hadn't arrived until… what was her year? 1978? She hadn't been there _that day_. That might have had something to do with it.

"No, Nami. I would not miss him. I don't even know him."

Nami smiled at him. "Maybe you should get to."

Now Luffy raised a brow at her. "Why? As you said, he won't be here that long."

"Or he could be here for a long time," Nami argued, logically.

"Aye, by all means, let's think positively," Luffy said sarcastically. Then he sighed and shook his head. "Nami, thank you for worrying about me… but it'll never happen." He tried his best to give her a smile. "I'm okay, really. I don't mind. It's better this way."

Nami looked sadly at him before she pushed herself away from the wall and went back to Ace's room. "When he returns, bring him back to Ace's room."

Luffy watched her leave him.

* * *

AN: It was time to get some things explained, bring up more puzzle pieces, and introduce a bunch of people! I know that they're OOC, it's all intentional. I didn't start this with any aim to keep them in Oda's character, because AUs are my character playground: it's were I make them mine. :) Thank you for the reviews, and I'll get those responses out pronto to those whom I have not yet addressed. :)

Now the fun part! The guessing game! Or possibly the "Treestar, you didn't explain anything well at all!" time, which I hope I did okay, but if I was more confusing than anything else, then let me know. Ace's scene was long and I fiddled with it 200 times or so, so if i confused you, then ask me and I'll clarify things for you this time, because I want you all to get what he was talking about. Thank you so much!


	13. Without Hope

Again thank you to Ahja Reyn, my awesome Beta reader.

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* * *

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**Homecoming Hill**

13

_In A World Without Hope…_

Zoro walked into his room a little while later to find Luffy curled up on his bed, presumably waiting for him.

"Hey, Luffy."

"Hi," Luffy murmured softly without getting up.

"What are you doing here?"

Luffy drew a circle on his comforter with his finger. "Waiting. Always waiting."

_He always answers that question that way… _Zoro thought. Perhaps it was presumptuous of him, but he felt in his heart that this was Luffy's indirect way of asking for freedom. He said it every opportunity he got, and for Luffy, that was practically begging.

"I mean, why aren't you in Ace's room? Were you waiting for me?"

Luffy didn't look up from the blanket. "I was, but… I don't think I'm going to go back in there today. You should go. They're waiting for you."

Zoro stood and considered the prone form on the bed for a few moments before approaching it and sitting down. "Are you still tired, Luffy? Is that why?"

Luffy curled up tighter. "…Nay," he mumbled. "I have energy now. I was careful before to save up a lot, but I have to be careful how I use it, in case this storm stays around for a while and there's no starlight."

"Then what's the matter? Do you not feel well?"

Luffy shook his head. "It's not that. I can't get sick anymore."

"There are other ways to not feel well," Zoro explained patiently.

"I don't have those, either," Luffy denied.

"Okay," Zoro said, "So what are you planning to do now?"

Luffy snuggled against his blanket. "I'll probably read for a while. I like these new stories." He gave Zoro a rare and genuine smile.

"I'm glad," Zoro smiled back. "I read those books when I was in high school, and I loved them. The earlier ones were the best. They weren't written in the order they're set, but Redwall is still the best place to start, even if it has prequels. Each adventure is different with different characters, and you don't have to read them in a certain order to make sense of them. That's another thing I liked about them. That and the pirates. Pirates make great bad guys."

Luffy shook his head and adopted a quirky smile. "Nay, pirates are only bad because the governments see them that way. I always thought the government made up the bad guys of the world. Before I came here, there was a war that was threatening to start over in Europe. There was a ton of discrimination going on, and it's all because of government. If I were a pirate, I'd be the best there ever was. I'd rule over all the other pirates, and I'd do it without ever hurting any bystanders. And I'd try to put a stop to all governments, of course. Supporting freedom and general mayhem is a must with piracy."

"Isn't that what makes them bad guys?"

"It's what makes them outlaws," Luffy corrected. "But an outlaw isn't always a bad person. When the king is a tyrant, then the outlaw becomes the hero."

"You know, I'm starting to think you've put a little too much thought into this piracy thing," Zoro joked.

Luffy smiled. "He used to say that all the time."

"He?"

Luffy's smile dropped instantly and he automatically glanced at the picture from the Warf that was hanging over the fireplace.

_The one trapped outside_, Zoro realized. _The one he's separated from. _

"Aren't you going to meet with the others?" Luffy reminded.

Zoro shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. They're nice and fun, but without you there, I don't think I'd have as good a time."

Luffy was looking at him as though he were nuts, and Zoro smiled despite it all. "Do you want to take a walk?"

"After meeting all of them, you want to go on a walk with _me_?" Luffy inquired. Then he seemed to realize what he'd just said, because a look of surprise followed by disbelief, caution, and something else overtook his features. Zoro knew hope when he saw it.

"If you're up to it," he said.

Luffy sat up slowly and watched his fingers fiddle in his lap as if weighing pros and cons for a moment. Pros and cons of what, Zoro had no idea. Luffy was always so cautious with him… Zoro had assumed it had to do with being careful with his power and his lack of control over it, like how he kept himself in check around the others when he was near them, but Zoro wasn't so sure it was about that anymore.

- "_I'm warning you of danger. Any more than that will cause Quakes and then everyone will panic." _-

Ace had said that, hadn't he? Was that what this was about as well? What on Earth was a Quake? Earthquakes are what came to mind instantly, but a slip of the tongue couldn't create an earthquake, so that alone ruled out that theory.

Unfortunately the question was one that Zoro knew that he could never ask, and might possibly never find an answer for. If Ace couldn't warn him to leave without repercussions, then Zoro knew he couldn't ask outright about something that was so obviously feared.

Luffy looked up after only a moment. "Where do you want to go?" he asked.

Zoro grinned and stood up. "I'll show you. Just let me get something first."

Luffy watched Zoro cross the room to his suitcase and pull out a smaller case. He had no idea what was in it, but Zoro must have had a plan if he meant to use it.

"Come on," Zoro said, and Luffy got up and followed him out into the corridor.

They didn't head for Ace's room, which Luffy was grateful for. Instead they headed for the staircase and went down. In order to save energy, and also just to change things up a bit, Luffy didn't bother lighting up the expanse of the areas through which they walked, but avoided attention by radiating the soft blue light that shrouded his body a little stronger than usual. To make this more effective, he hovered a few inches off the ground, making him eye-level with Zoro, and making the light just graze the ceiling to make the effect less creepy (he hoped). None of this bothered Zoro in the slightest, but then little about Luffy was ever bothersome to him. It actually made the little Everlasting easier to see than usual, and it certainly enhanced those blue eyes. They were like a blue ball of starlight drifting down the middle of the otherwise black windowless corridors they traveled through.

The questions about his past that Luffy had been half-expecting and dreading did not come. In fact, there was no prying or nosing of any kind for the whole walk. Zoro kept a peaceful silence and a relaxed gait, content to just walk with him. Occasionally he would offer Luffy a smile and go back to looking at the doors of the rooms they passed.

As Luffy realized that there would be no interrogation or forced chattering, he found himself content to simply be in Zoro's company, as well. It felt nice to just be together without any important matters to discuss. He didn't usually spend time with _anyone_ unless there was something important going on.

But still, why was Zoro here with him when he could be in Ace's room with everyone else? Luffy couldn't figure it out. It felt good, but that also meant it was dangerous.

_I should just send him back to Ace's room. Or better yet, his family. He can't get close to anyone when he's with them._

Zoro slowed to a stop. "Say, Luffy?"

Luffy, who hadn't actually been paying attention to where they were going, looked up.

Zoro was looking at the labels on the doors they passed by. The ones that were blank. "Was anyone ever in these rooms?" he asked.

Luffy nodded. "Those are mostly offices. People have used them, but they're empty now."

"Hmm," Zoro answered, still looking at the blank name plates. "Every one of them…" he whispered to himself.

He turned back to Luffy and kept walking with him. "Didn't you say something about the kanji in Nami's room? How it was spelled wrong or something?"

Luffy nodded. "It's not how her name is written. It wouldn't be there, otherwise."

"…Then there's no written evidence that she was ever in that room," Zoro deduced.

Luffy nodded. "That's right."

Zoro nodded his understanding, but then when he glanced over at Luffy, he suddenly felt bad. He started walking again with Luffy drifting along a few inches off the ground beside him. That had been an interesting tidbit, but he hadn't meant to make this about the Hill. He wanted to give Luffy a break from his troubles for a little bit, and he could tell that Luffy didn't like talking about the Hill at all. Zoro had the feeling that the only reason Luffy tolerated discussing it with him was because Luffy was trying to give him inexplicit warnings… or maybe, as Zoro hoped, he really was trying to help him figure out Homecoming Hill so he could help them all in return.

"Here we are," Zoro said, stopping in front of a door.

Luffy, who hadn't expected Zoro to stop, backed up. "This is the theatre," he observed.

"That it is," Zoro agreed, opening the door and walking inside.

No one else was inside, which made things easy.

Zoro noticed that Luffy looked kind of disappointed, and figured that he wasn't looking forward to watching the same movies he'd no doubt seen a hundred times before, but Zoro had thought of that. He hoped Luffy wouldn't be unhappy with him for whipping out strange technology.

Clearing the boxes of film off of a table, Zoro set down his case and pulled out his laptop, setting it down beside the projector. Like everything else, the image projector was in pristine condition, and while not modern, it was no more than about 20 years old. It had probably been the best available when it had been brought here, because it had the hook ups he needed. Good! At least some things didn't rush to become obsolete. He wished he could see them better, though.

"What is that?" Luffy asked, curiosity getting the better of him as he climbed into a theatre seat to crane over the table from the other side and watch Zoro hook up the adapter. With Luffy came the light, and Zoro was able to see.

"This is a small computer. It's called laptop, or a notebook."

"It's tiny. They weren't like this when Kaya came. Her papa had a computer. It was so big."

Zoro smiled. It was cute how Luffy said 'papa' in a little sing-song voice. "This one can do a lot of things. Well, it can't really do as much up here on the Hill because we don't have a phone line, but that's alright. I only have enough battery life for this, anyway."

"For what?"

"Do you like fairytales, Luffy?"

Luffy was surprised at the question, but nodded. "Aye."

"Well, you might like this, then. We're going to watch a movie. One that's not quite live action, but not quite cartoon, either. And it's about all the fairytale creatures you've ever heard of, and there's no science or technology in it at all. It's set with castles and dragons."

Luffy perked up in interest… but then his eyes fell, and he looked as though he suddenly wanted to be anywhere else, but after several moments, he took a deep breath and nodded.

Zoro was confused at Luffy's reaction. He thought the boy would be more excited…

He tried to turn on the projector, but it didn't work right away, and then he saw why. He went ahead and turned on his DVD player and it was quiet as he watched Luffy's attention being grasped by something else.

"…outside," Luffy whispered, reaching out to touch the back of the screen that was facing Zoro as if it were a great treasure, but he pulled his hand back before he actually grazed it with his fingertips.

Zoro saw the wonder and sadness in the gesture, and reached out and grasped Luffy's hand in midair. "You'll see more than this. I'll make sure you see everything there is to see soon."

Luffy looked at the hand that held his for several moments in silence, then looked up to meet Zoro's eyes, where he saw honesty, determination, and kindness. _He can't possibly mean…_

"I'll show you something now, if you'll start the projector," Zoro offered, and Luffy realized he'd spaced out.

The projector came on, and Zoro hooked up his little speakers (they weren't ideal, but he didn't want to attract everyone in the wing, anyway), and the FBI warning came on the projection screen.

"This is a way of making animated movies that's become pretty popular outside right now, but it's fun if you give it a chance. There's lots of color and activity."

Luffy looked at him unsurely. "And you really don't want to get the others?" He just couldn't get over that significant detail.

"Nope," Zoro said. "This is a private screening."

He sat down beside Luffy to watch Shrek. It took the smaller boy a while to get the hang of it (he sat in awe of the creatures moving around on the screen for the longest time, and the crude scenes in the opening seemed to bother him somewhat. Zoro reminded himself from what age Luffy was.) but after Donkey came in, it started to really work for him, which Zoro found funny. By the end of the movie, Luffy was laughing and pointing, having forgotten about his problems, if only for an hour and a half.

Of course, all good things came to and end, and when the movie ended and Zoro's battery was exhausted, hard reality came back, and Luffy seemed to grow more sad than he had been before.

When Zoro tried to ask him about it, he got a shrug in answer, and had to go to dinner before much more could be said. He couldn't help but feel that he'd done something wrong. He offered to let Luffy come along to the dining room just for the company, even if he wouldn't be able to talk to him for the meal, but Luffy declined, saying that he wouldn't leave the East Wing unless he was dragged from it. Strong words for strong feelings, and Zoro wondered again about Luffy's unique position in the manor and that whole issue with the West Wingers as he met Sanji in the hall and walked down to dinner with his cousin.

Luffy curled up with his new book after Zoro had gone. It had been wrong of him to give Zoro the cold shoulder in return for the gift he'd given him that day, but he didn't want to give Zoro a false feeling of belonging. He couldn't encourage Zoro to stay near him. Zoro was too good to fall victim to this Hill, and Luffy almost wished he could drive him away. Of course, such things were forbidden, but now that Luffy was fairly certain that Zoro was going to try to figure out a way to free them all, Luffy didn't know what to think. Depending on which way he and Ace's theory regarding Zoro's invisibility fell, the Outsider either had a very good chance, or a very bad one. But Luffy had to admit, if the Hill had been aware of him, it probably would have made its move by now.

Realizing that his eyes had scanned the same page twice and he still had no idea what it said, Luffy let the book fall closed around his thumb and stared at the wall.

He'd missed it. The world had been turning and changing and _happening_, and he'd missed it all. That movie, the 'laptop' thing, these stories he had now… They'd all been created recently in the outside world. People had lived and died. Makino was probably gone by now, and Luffy would never see her again. The new world that taunted him by floating just out of reach was just the same as Makino. He would never touch it again, because he would be trapped here forever.

He reached behind him on the bed and pulled Lucky Hat close. There were many things that were so close and yet so far away. Luffy would settle for a breath of fresh air. He would beg for it. It had come to that point for him.

He glared at the walls that held him. "I hate you," he whispered.

* * *

"What do you think Kuina saw outside earlier?" Sanji asked Zoro as they walked down the steps. "Syd didn't run after it, so it might have been something big."

"Not too big, or she'd have actually seen it, probably," said Zoro.

"She said she saw something. Or she thought she did. You think she was just scared?"

"Maybe. Probably," Zoro agreed.

"Where were you today? I haven't seen you since breakfast," Sanji asked, changing the subject."

Zoro nodded. "Yeah, I missed lunch. Sorry. I was reading, then I watched a movie in the theatre."

"Did the equipment work alright?"

Zoro nodded. "I didn't use the camera, but I used my laptop with the projector, and it worked fine."

"They hook up alright?" Sanji looked surprised.

"Yep. I was surprised, too."

"Huh! How about that."

They went into the kitchen to find Kuina feeding Sydian.

_She's so good about taking care of him_, Zoro observed.

"Hey, Sanji, you study religion and culture, right?" Zoro asked.

Sanji quirked a brow at him. "No, I study canoeing and racecar driving just like how you study bird incubation and cat breeding," he answered sarcastically.

Kuina was laughing, and Zoro made a face at her. Clearly he had to work on his subject broaching technique.

"Moving on now… Isn't there a strong significance placed on the power of words in various cultures? I know my people do it, but what about others? I remember in mythology class Professor Robinson used to go on about it, but do you know any more?"

Sanji shrugged. "Um, it's fairly common. Basically it's just that words have power. When you speak them, they become real and out there in the world. Every time anyone says anything to anyone it has some effect on them, and therefore on reality."

"What about written words?" Kuina asked before Zoro got the chance to as she held up her plate for pasta to be put on it.

"…Written words are a little different. They're permanent. Written words have a wider range to effect the populace than spoken words do. It's why we use newspapers now instead of a town crier. The Bible is still worshiped because it was written. Actually, the whole reason the story is worshiped is because the Dead Sea Scrolls were recovered, and then select texts were chosen and published together. If those words hadn't been found, history would have been completely different. All the death and suffering that the Catholic church forced on people -the witch trials across Europe and America, the way they lorded over everyone with an iron fist, the excommunicating, the _complete_ disallowance and removal from society of anyone who thought of any idea that _they_ didn't like. Millions of families forced into hiding for generations… None of that would have happened. Just think, if no one had ever written down anything that happened in history, or any religions, what would the world be like now?"

"It would be like none of those things had ever happened," Zoro stated.

Kuina looked from her cousin to her step-brother as the sat down at the table to eat. "But that would be terrible. How could we learn without past experiences to go by?" She looked at her brother. "Doesn't history dictate our present? You always said that."

"Not as much as we wish it would," Zoro scoffed. "People keep making the same mistakes over and over. History repeats itself. It will always do so, whether people realize it or not."

"Ooo, cynical," Sanji said.

"Just saying…" Zoro said around a mouth full of pasta that could choke a giraffe.

"Savor your food!" Sanji scolded, and then rolled his eyes when he was totally ignored. He sighed and twirled spaghetti around his own fork. "If religion were removed from society, culture would just be gone, because culture is based on religion. There would be no underlying hope to keep people in line. You see, religion uses fear, hope, and desire to control people and keep them happy and cooperating. When people lose hope that their desires can ever become reality, they become dangerous. Without hope, a government would have to be formed that would use _force_ to keep people behaving, and to protect those who just wanted to exist in peace and needed sanctuary. It would be like living in a military zone. That would lead to revolutions and many wars."

"How could people live like that?" Kuina asked.

"In fear," Zoro answered sadly, making the connection between Sanji's observation and the two wings of Everlasting Manor. "Having no earthly idea what's going to happen to them in the end, but having no reason to hope that it would ever be something good would be a terrifying thing to experience. That coupled with no impending consequences for doing bad things would make everyone fear both the future and each other. Fear causes people to lash out irrationally, and lose themselves. Lose control over their actions and emotions. They would close themselves away from everyone, and be alone. And in being alone, they would only feel more fear. Full of fear and pain, and bitterness because of it all. _That_ is how they would live."

Sanji took a bite of pasta. "That's what I think, too," he agreed between chews. "On that note, when are we going to check out the West Wing?"

Zoro choked on his food and picked up his water glass as Kuina groaned, "Not agaiiin…"

"What do you mean 'on that note'?" Zoro managed to ask. "We weren't talking about exploring in any way!"

"We're talking about it now," Sanji returned easily. "Keep up, Zoro."

"Sanji, I don't want to, yet. We did it all day just yesterday, and you said we could take a break," Kuina whined.

Sanji set his fork down and looked between them. "Aren't you curious about what's over there?"

"Not _that_ curious."

"Sanji, we talked about this. I still think we have plenty to go off of now. You jump the gun faster then a _normal_ gun-jumper," Zoro informed. "Take it easy, Tex."

Sanji frowned in disappointment. He didn't like sitting around and doing paperwork very much. "Fine. We'll wait. But I could use some help with making the estimates."

Zoro nodded with relief. "I'll help you out after dinner," he said, coming off sounding almost eager.

* * *

_I have such a big mouth_, Zoro thought as he trudged down the corridor to his room hours later. He vowed never to enjoy sitting in that dining room again. It was after dark, and he knew Luffy wouldn't be pleased, but he hadn't been able to get Sanji to stop working until now.

"You're late," Luffy scolded from his squashy armchair in front of the starlightless glass door as Zoro walked into the dark room. Luffy's light was the only illumination in the room again.

"I know," Zoro said. "I'm sorry. I got held up."

Luffy spun in his chair to face him. "With Califa over there I would think you'd be smarter than this. You know it's only a matter of time, and when the ax falls, it almost always falls at night when so many are dispersed and attuned to feel anyone sneaking up on them. Several get fidgety and they act before they question, but you decide to walk the line."

"Yep," Zoro tried to joke. "I'm brave like that."

Luffy wasn't in the mood. "You're an idiot," he bluntly informed.

"Sorry," Zoro said again.

Luffy looked like he was about to continue, but paused, and then sighed and slumped back into his chair, boneless. "Don't apologize to me, You'll only hurt yourself by doing this stuff."

Zoro smiled slightly. _He was worried, _he thought.

Zoro hadn't expected this, though now that he actually thought about it, he realized he should have. Luffy acted cold, but he really was anything but. He had been distant after the movie because something had been bothering him, not because he was angry.

_I should have come straight back here after dinner_, Zoro reflected. _I shouldn't have left him alone for so long. …Maybe I shouldn't have left him at all._

The room lit up so Zoro could get ready for bed. He was so tired. He knew he would sleep like a rock.

As Zoro walked over to the bed after changing into a clean t-shirt and boxers, something about Luffy caught his attention.

Was Luffy…?

He hadn't been paying enough attention that afternoon first because of the others, and then probably because Luffy had been more apparent when he was the epicenter of the light in the halls earlier, but now that the room was full of light, Luffy didn't look so hot. In fact, he didn't look like as much as he had been the day before. Had he faded more? He was a little harder to see…

_I need to get some sleep._

* * *

Despite his exhaustion, something woke Zoro in the middle of the night.

Luffy was crying again. He was sure it was Luffy. He had meant to sleep on his other side so that he could see the window where Luffy sat every night waiting for stars to come out.

As he was wondering what he could do to make this better, Zoro heard Luffy pad softly across the carpet to the bed. They boy kind of froze there for a moment, sniffling quietly, before carefully climbing up onto the bed and crawling across the mattress. Zoro risked opening his eyes slightly to see Luffy curl up beside his feet and gently reach up to rest his hand on the part of the blanket covering his legs.

After several moments there came a long, shuddering sigh that signaled the end of the tears, and Luffy's laid his head down to rest on the blanket where he would spend the rest of the night. Zoro wished he knew what was doing this to him, but if this helped, and if this was what Luffy was comfortable with, then Luffy would have it.

Reflecting on how heartbreaking this situation was, Zoro realized that if he really wanted to help, he would get his butt moving on trying to figure out what was wrong with Homecoming Hill. What had happened, and how could he stop it? Would he be able to do anything? Many of them were still alive! They needed help, and he couldn't abandon them, so if he couldn't _find _a way then he would just have to _make_ one. These somewhat irrational thoughts followed him as he started to drift off to sleep again.

Now and then Zoro would be reminded of Luffy's presence when the hand on his leg would move a little, as Luffy reassured himself that he really wasn't lying there alone, but other than that, the night passed quietly.

* * *

"So… they never came back," Ace drolled on his bed, from where he was making two bouncy balls bounce off each other in an airborne battle near the ceiling.

"I think they wanted to be alone together," Nami smirked. "How's that for unusual?"

Ace smiled and nodded. "It's fantastic."

He sighed and rolled onto his side to look at her, flopped into her cushy chair that she'd scooted beside the bed. "You said the sister saw a Dweller?"

"Luffy and I think so, based on what she described, but she's not convinced it was anything more than an animal." She was quiet for a moment before looking up again. "How do you think this could change our opportunity? Will he be more or less willing to help us if it happens?"

"I don't know. It depends on how it happens, I suppose. If she's seeing things, then the Hill is already taking hold of her. It's not a guarantee, exactly -a few people have seen something just once or twice and left to tell about it- but I would be surprised if that's the case this time. I mean, it happened faster than I expected, but as I said when they first pulled into the drivepath, the little girl was a sure pick."

"We'll keep her in the East Wing if it happens, then," Nami stated more than asked.

"Of course," Ace answered anyway.

Nami slumped sadly again. "I wish there was a way to warn Zoro about it. He has no idea how much danger they're all in."

"Nami," Ace sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed to face her, "you know you can't say ANYTHING to him about it. I know you weren't here the first and only time one of us tried to warn and Outsider, but you know what happened, nonetheless. Or do I need to tell you again what happened to Luffy? To the Outsider? To me? Do you need to hear about the effect it had on everyone here? The panic? It probably scared the hell out of the Dwellers, too. And Luffy's _still _punishing himself for it."

Ace stopped suddenly, as if he'd said too much. Nami's bottom lip was trembling, and Ace sighed. After pausing for a little while, he said gently, "No, Nami. We can't tell him anything. Luffy needs to take care of Zoro. He's the only one who knows what not to say, and that makes him the only one who can help Zoro figure it out while keeping them both on dry shores, away from the darker waters."

"But Luffy doesn't want to have anything to do with Zoro," Nami retorted. "He told me earlier that he won't let Zoro get close to him."

Ace raised a brow. "Do you really believe that that's what he wants?"

Nami smiled back at him and shook her head. "No, I don't. But that's just it; he's so stubborn about it that I'm worried. And you know what will happen if the West Wingers find out that _Luffy_ has been with Zoro this whole time."

Ace's smirk vanished and he nodded solemnly. "I know that the West Wingers will TRY to do, but it won't work. They blame him for messing it up last time, even though that Outsider wasn't the one and never could have been, but _I KNOW _beyond any doubt that what happened last time is what makes him perfect for this job. He won't mess it up this time, he knows how not to. And when he comes through, everything will be different. Maybe he'll even be able to forgive himself. It'll happen Nami. Mark my words."

Nami nodded, a smile curling on her lips. If Ace said it would be okay, then it would be okay. Ace had never let them down before.

Ace reflected quietly for a moment before smiling distantly. "You know, when we first got here, Luffy was hysterical for the longest time… One day I sat him down and told him a story that one day an Outsider would come here, and he or she would be different from all the other Outsiders. This one would understand us, and wouldn't abandon us here. This Outsider would be smart and observant, and will figure out how to free us all. We'd be saved."

"I know it sounds like a fairytale, but even Luffy still clings to it like a lifeline. It's one of the few things he still believes in. There are things all over this Hill, both inside the manor and out that I remember; signs and words… They're evidence of something that happened here; some event that occurred years before even Luffy and I arrived. And then there's the garden, and the way we've never seen even a Dweller enter it. It grows by itself. All those headstones of different shapes and sizes appear on their own. Something's keeping tabs on each one of us on this Hill. Something that won't allow us near it, but if an Outsider can find it and defeat it, then I'm sure we could all go free. I'm _sure_."

He nodded decisively to himself, then sighed, and his ever present smile reappeared. "Plus, Zoro is good _to_ Luffy and good _for_ Luffy. He's more than I ever hoped for. …I think he's the one. I really do. If he can save Luffy from the Shifting, he'll be able to save us all."

Nami frowned a little skeptically. "But will he be able to save Luffy? Will Luffy let him? He doesn't even believe he's in danger from the Shifting."

Ace looked at her evenly. "Yes, he does. He knows it's true. That's why he denies it so hard. Luffy doesn't react to things that don't concern him. If he truly wasn't worried, it wouldn't bother him when we talk about it, but what does he do instead?"

"He gets angry every time it's mentioned," Nami answered with a frown.

Ace nodded. "My little brother is confused about many things right now, but he's much more observant than any of you know."

* * *

AN: I didn't really want to use computers in this novel, but I had to think that if I was interested in someone, I'd take advantage of every activity in my grasp to do together. This is the only scene with computer technology that this story will have.

If you'd like to see some fanart to any or my stories, several of them have it now, so if you don't visit my profile, you can do that and follow the links. Thank you all!


	14. Shanks

**Homecoming Hill**

14

_Shanks_

**A**fter breakfast the next morning, Zoro found a back door that lead out to a large stone balcony resting over the garden, and went outside. He wanted to take a closer look at everything out there. Leaning over the railing, he was stunned to find that there were literally headstones just inches from the walls of the manor. Who would put graves _there_?

Puzzled, Zoro went down the balcony steps and out onto a stone walk way through the garden. Slowly walking out toward the large statue that stood in the center of the garden; the one of the beautiful girl with the long hair that stood in the middle of the cemetery, the manor wrapped around her like a distant embrace. Looking across the growth, Zoro kept his eyes open for any Dweller that might come, but he saw no one. The air was very silent, as well. As far as he could tell, he was alone in the graveyard.

He made his way around the flora slowly, noticing that there were many more stones than he had first accounted for. _Many_ more. He'd guessed about fifty the first time out, but that was before he'd pushed large fanning leaves aside to behold what they hid. Some had three and four stones facing different directions under their broad cover. He found that lining the walls of the house where he was still surprised to find any, there were at least forty spaced pretty far apart as he made his way slowly through the garden.

His estimation grew from seventy to one hundred and ten… to over one hundred and eighty.

__

So many…

When he reached the orchard at the end of the garden, Zoro turned around to look over the graveyard with a whole new understanding.

Tweedle Dum down in the grocery store was wrong. There were many more stones than just those that family had laid out for loved ones. In order to have this number of markers, the hikers and missing school children that had come up here over the years and 'gotten lost' had to have them as well. Sanji had been wrong, too. These stones had been placed wherever there had been room, regardless of plot size.

_Who needs a plot when there are no bodies_? Zoro smirked mirthlessly.

At least he now knew why no bodies had been found for the people that had vanished, and to what purpose the dead ones had disappeared shortly after time of death: dead or alive, those bodies were still being used by their owners who couldn't leave this world.

Which led him to another worrying thought. If he did manage to help these people, then what would happen to them? He assumed that the dead would simply be free at long last, and they would have several bodies to contend with, but what of the living?

Usopp, Kaya, Kaku, and all the others like them would simply be allowed to finish dying if his theory was correct, for this was the natural order of things. But what about Ace, Luffy, Nami, and little Chopper? They weren't dead. Zoro wasn't sure how that could be, but Ace had confirmed for him that over half the people here were still very much alive.

Zoro was missing a major piece here. Something obvious. Something he should have picked up long before now, and as he walked through the orchard and sat down on a bench, it occurred to him what it was.

"Of course!" he laughed at himself softly when it dawned on him and shook his head at his own foolishness. "Of course…"

Ace and Luffy had both said - more than once, at that - that Zoro was in a different realm then they were.

"I was looking too hard," he whispered, plopping down on the ground and leaning back to look out over the garden again.

A dimension that meshed with this one… or was it that Zoro meshed with both of them? Either way, it obviously didn't distinguish between the dead and the living and took everyone it chose, and it held everyone captive in its little bubble that only spanned the Hill… He was sure that the edge of the property was like an invisible wall, because the Dwellers he'd seen the other day out front had been able to walk around inside the gate, but none had tried to venture beyond. Perhaps they ceased to exist beyond the gate.

How? What happened to cause it? How could he erase it?

Zoro didn't like that thought, either, because didn't erasing a reality mean erasing every aspect of it? Erasing all of the people here? Erasing Luffy? Could these people really _have_ a happy ending?

_I could ponder this all day and never get an answer_, Zoro thought to himself. _What I need to do is find a starting point. Begin at the beginning._

He pushed himself to his feet and headed back inside the manor to get the car keys and to let Sanji and Kuina know that he was going into town for a little while.

* * *

The City Hall wasn't terribly large, but it was still the fanciest building in town. One story tall with wide front steps, it was painted white with heavy double doors and four roman pillars supporting the overhanging roof in the front. There was also a large tree with thick branches and red leaves, very odd for an oak in summer. Despite its attempts to look brand new, Zoro could tell everything about this place was old. He could feel it when he walked up its front walk and the breeze from the storm seemed to die just over the property. There was a hush over the lawn surrounding the walkway, and this made him shiver for the first time since getting out of the car in the wind.

The cold of the storm had nothing on this place, but it wasn't until he got closer to the tree that he paused in his walk.

For a moment he thought he'd heard something. Not a loud something, but soft, as though the wind were whispering… But there was no wind.

It came again, and Zoro looked at the tree looming over him. The red leaves… so odd for this time of year.

Or perhaps not so odd at all, Zoro realized as his stomach twisted. The tree had the perfect shape to serve the purpose it had, and Zoro could see the deep burns in two of the long, sturdy branches where bark would never grow again.

The City Hall hadn't been placed here out of convenience. It had been built here specifically for this tree, so that when the accused were found guilty they could be marched out to where the swinging nooses and platform would be waiting for them. Then they would helplessly have their lives stolen away as their necks snapped and their bowels released over the earth below. This tree would keep bodies dangling for days afterward; rotting flesh for people to throw stones at, serving as a message and a device of fear.

Zoro backed a few steps away. This tree carried a message. It whispered of the past it had witnessed and been a party to, and now its leaves and branches displayed a warning to any who would see it.

This was the City Hall; the building that represented the lives of those who had lived and died here, and there was nothing innocent about it.

Zoro turned back, about to run to his car, but then felt a much stronger shadow and looked up at Homecoming Hill where it was - looming over everything lesser than It - holding so much more than mere whispers of death… and he stopped.

If discovering the secrets of the red tree that held only whispers of death had been shocking, what kind of truths would he discover living in a place where the halls screamed of death in the night and the warnings were his bedfellows that touched and spoke to him?

There were no second thoughts, though. Turning around, Zoro walked past the tree with renewed purpose, for there was only the decision that this town had nothing on the manor he'd been living in for over a week.

He would uncover the truth about Homecoming Hill or die trying, and as he glanced back up at the tree a second time, Zoro smiled at how stupid he'd been to take that phrase lightly for so long.

* * *

The book that the woman behind the desk had led him to was enormous, old, faded, and dusty. When Zoro had first asked for a record to his property, the woman, Bridgett, had become rather confused and then it had taken her a moment to regain her bearings and lead him back to where he needed to be before she'd left him promptly with a little nervous bow and a request that he take as long as he needed and no offer to help him find anything else.

Zoro had hardly been surprised. He could almost have been grateful for his Hill's reputation granting him peace that he so often desired. Almost.

All the same he accepted her invitation as he flipped through the pages, taking his time to look at everything carefully. He could tell right away that at least some of his suspicions had been correct. Everlasting Manor had never aged a day. The photographs slipped between pages of different areas of the property showed as much. It looked as new now as it did when it had first been built, the only difference now being that most the windows were boarded up from the outside, which had to be terrible for the flow of starlight into the house. He wondered if there was much competition for windows in the Wings, and if that added to the strife. He found it stupid at first that the Dwellers simply didn't try to remove the boards, but then realized that with a hundred people trapped for decades under their circumstances, one of them had certainly thought of that idea. There was probably some consequence involved or something. There seemed to always be consequences on the Hill.

Zoro got nearer to the end of the book and found a came across a resident history. Curiosity overtook him and he sat up in the chair some to read the names therein. They were in scratchy print and slightly faded, but still legible, so Zoro started at the top. It was an incomplete register, of course, keeping only the names of the families that owned the house and sometimes the head of staff of the vineyard, but no complete and total list of every worker that ever resided there. This was disappointing because Zoro knew most of the people he'd seen to be workers rather than owners. Still, it was hardly a total loss.

"1913," he whispered under his breath. "Nefeltari Cobra and family. Head of Staff: Daniel Raily. Left in 1918... Doesn't say why…" He perused his finger along the list of names looking for anything that sounded familiar to him. Of course, he knew there was one year he couldn't wait to get to, but he could take it one page at a time.

He went over six different family names between 1918 and 1929, and then he reached gold. "Jan. 1929 - March 1929 - Aaron D. Shanks. Head of Staff: Michael Grosser. …This is Luffy's family. …Three months… such a short time." In only three months, this family had suffered more loss than most families did in a decade. They were still suffering it.

There were no further notes on this page, which disappointed Zoro, but the book was old and fat, so he didn't allow himself to be discouraged just yet. He skimmed down further to read:

Thomas Cartel - 1929-30

Solomon Helmeppo - 1930-32

Don Kreig - 1932

Terrence Arlong - 1932-34

Katharine Smith - 1935-36

Edward Newgate - 1936-39

Clay Wills - 1941

Richard Thomason - 1943-44

George Jamasen - 1945

Francis Blueno - 1946-47

James Iceburg - 1947-48

Mark Heralding - 1948-50

Dracule Mihawk - 1950-51

Gen. Smoker Tycony - 1953

Alexis Marconi - 1957-58

Daniel Davies - 1960

Carol Crocodile - 1961

Elias Crocodile - 1961-62

Damien Crocodile - 1962-63

Now that was interesting, Zoro thought, eyes snapping to the name 'Crocodile'. A woman had owned the land and it had been taken over by her son? Estranged husband perhaps? Either way, Elias and Damien hadn't cared enough about Carol's death nor the disturbances on the Hill to make him sell the house, and then something had happened to him as well, and still the family kept it? Very odd. Even through the stench of historical disappearances the Hill emitted, Zoro smelled foul play.

Augustin Lucci - 1963-64

Claude Django - 1965

Nico Olvia - 1967

Tailor Mindosa - 1968-69

Zoro stopped here. Mindosa? Who was that? He hadn't met anyone named Tailor yet… had he? No, he was sure not. But then every name here represented at least fifty souls living on the Hill, so lord only knew how many people had vanished before this guy left. Well, crap. This didn't tell him anything about what happened in 1969, except that someone had been living there that year. …Well, he supposed that was better than nothing, but he'd suspected that already due to the fact that Ace knew the year, and he had been told that they only knew what year it was because Outsiders would come and get trapped, and they would be able to tell the year.

There had to be more here than that.

The Hill had been vacant until 1971 after that. The list went on some time, with many takers signing their name and then giving up their title usually in the same year they bought the Hill. Zoro recognized the name Atlay in 1985 to be Nami's, and had the feeling when he reached the end of the list that Doctrin - 1992 was probably Kaya's family, because he'd gathered that she was the last one to join the Hill before Zoro himself arrived.

Taking a pen from his shirt pocket, he swirled it on the ink blotter to get it going before writing down Roronoa Zoro - 2007 in the book before him.

He hadn't asked, but he wasn't lying. So he was taking liberties. So what?

On another page, old photographs taken of the graveyard over the years revealed its steady and disturbingly quick growth from the statue of the girl being set in the center of the garden to the overgrowth hiding scattered markers here and there. When he finally unrolled the blueprints to the manor and compared them with the handful of photos he'd gathered, he came up with nothing useful.

It wasn't until he'd flipped through a little farther that Zoro finally found what he had been looking for. The list of those registered to the family graveyard of Homecoming Hill.

He counted and came up with seventy nine names. Holy shit! Apparently the total was higher than the common townsfolk could even imagine. That, or even the grocer was afraid to admit how many people were registered up there. Of course, these people were just registered, and most of them as having memorial plaques, not as having actual grave plots. This list made no mention of all the people that had disappeared, and didn't take into account the other hundred or so tombstones in Zoro's backyard.

__

So they ARE appearing on their own. Or no one from town is adding them, anyway.

But the important thing to Zoro was that all of those people's names that wouldn't appear up there on the Hill, all of those names that had been erased from papers and office door plaques as though they'd never existed - all of those names that vanished the moment they were written down - and that had disappeared leaving nameless memorials… all of those names appeared here in this book. He smiled as his eyes went down a long list of not so unfamiliar names. There were many unaccounted for, but that meant nothing more than that no one from town had logged in that they'd vanished. It _didn't _mean they hadn't existed or that there was no record of them anywhere in the world anymore.

Zoro wasn't sure how much that would really mean in the long run, but it gave him hope to know that the Hill's power and whatever force behind it could only reach so far. The written word WAS a powerful thing, and regardless of whether they have no pulse left or otherwise, if Atlay Nami's name was still recorded, then she wasn't permanently gone. If Marksen Usopp's name was still here, and Doctrin Kaya's, and Squarem Kaku's, and Paulie Roeper's, and Tilestone T. Tilestone's, then that meant that the world there were sealed in was not so perfectly sealed after all. Monkey D. Luffy was still a part of this world.

* * *

Forty minutes later found Zoro sitting on a bench underneath his own balcony window, pondering how his life had changed, what the future would possibly hold, and how those changes would effect his life from now on. If all the people that were presumed dead suddenly appeared alive after so many years, how could the world account for that? They'd have no place to live, no money, a lot of them would have no family left, and even if they did, their families would doubtfully accept that they hadn't aged after so many years of disappearance. They would think it was a twisted joke of some sort.

New social security numbers, jobs, complete reeducation about the current world, and no family. Zoro would be the only one to take care of them. Of course, he was sure that the children would end up being placed in foster care and that many of the adults would be independent and desperate to live freely their own way again, but there were a few misfits that didn't quite seem to fit in either category. Zoro wondered what would happen to them, and what he would have to do to get them started in society again. Hopefully the West Wingers weren't ALL insane, or their freedom would be short-lived…

_I'm jumping the gun_, Zoro thought to himself, but these thoughts were practical and kept his mind on his goal to set them free. But the steps needed to _reach _that goal… the information… the history was so incomplete that he couldn't figure out what made the good Hill turn bad. He needed to get to the root of the problem.

"You look like you're in deep thought."

Zoro shot to his feet and stumbled over several steps before freezing and slowing his racing heart. He remembered this voice…

His eyes fell on a red haired man standing a few feet from him whom he recognized immediately from the picture in Luffy's room, and who didn't look the slightest bit surprised that he was being heard and seen.

"I knew it," the man smiled at him.

Zoro didn't know protocol at this point, and even though this man gave no sign of being threatening (in truth his presence was a lot like Ace's. He'd even snuck up behind him the same way, which really had to stop happening because it took ten years of Zoro's life every time they did it), he decided to wait for the man to start the conversation that he was obviously seeking.

The man smiled for a moment longer, looking Zoro up and down as if trying to decide something, and then nodded and indicated toward the backyard.

"You'll want to be careful out there. It's not really bad most of the time, but if you run across the wrong person, things can get kind of ugly. You know, in that 'you might get killed' sort of way."

He said it so casually that Zoro was starting to wonder how sane Shanks himself was. _Another kook who has been here too long… _he thought. But at least he wasn't taking it out on the newbie.

"Let's head out front, if you wouldn't mind talking with me. I'm on watch duty and I'm sort of… well, skipping out on it," the man admitted sheepishly, leaning hopefully in the direction of the front yard.

Zoro nodded and jogged the few steps to walk beside the man. He'd wanted to meet a Dweller, and that it was this particular man just seemed fitting somehow. They already had someone in common; a boy with deep blue eyes.

"Thank you," Zoro said suddenly, and the man turned to look at him as they walked. "Thank you for what you did the other day when my sister and I were out here. That man who was staring had been making me nervous."

"Oh," the man said slowly in comprehension. "That was Mihawk. Hawkeye, we call him. He comes on strong because of that gaze, but he's a good man. I'm Aaron D. Shanks. Your sister called you Zoro, right?"

"Yes, Roronoa Zoro," Zoro nodded. This guy was pretty cool, acting like their situations happened every day and there should be nothing odd in the slightest.

Shanks smiled jovially. "So tell me a little about yourself, Roronoa Zoro. What brings you to this cheery place?"

"Ambition," Zoro answered. "Originally we planned to open the Hill up to the public, but that won't work now."

The man laughed and picked up a twig to start snapping as they walked. "Does your family know about us?"

Zoro shook his head. "It'll be hard to explain…"

"Probably not as hard as you think," the man disagreed. "Your sister - Kuina, aye? - she saw something, didn't she?"

Zoro nodded slowly. _How does he know…?_

Shanks smiled. "Word gets around out here. You're all the gossip right now. Anyway, now that she's seen Smoker, you don't need to worry about whether or not they'll catch on. It's only a matter of time." He didn't seem very concerned about it, which was odd to Zoro. The Everlastings had been acting nervous about it.

Zoro nodded. He wasn't looking forward to fording off the objections at all. How would he be able to make Sanji understand that he had a sense of obligation toward these people? That he couldn't leave them behind… even if it meant his family would have to leave _him_ behind _with_ them?

"You know, there's a photograph of you in my room," Zoro said to change the subject. "One with Luffy and Ace. I recognize you from it."

The man's smile became slightly sad. "…You've met my boys," he stated softly.

Zoro could only nod.

"How are they?" Shanks asked, although his tone told that he already had a good idea of the answer was.

Zoro was suddenly unsure how to share his news, for it wasn't all good. "…Ace is fine. He's the leader of the East Wing. Everyone depends on him to protect them."

Shanks nodded, eyes shining with pride.

"…It's Luffy who's not doing well."

Shanks looked up toward the fountain, but Zoro couldn't tell if he was looking at it or looking past it to some vague memory from long ago. "He could never handle being locked up… Luffy is a free spirit."

Zoro knew no words of comfort. He had no explanation for why what was happening was happening. This Dweller no doubt knew more than he did, and when Shanks turned and continued walking through the courtyard, Zoro followed easily.

"Shanks… Can I ask you something?"

Shanks shrugged. "Shoot, but I'm not accountable for what may happen to you because of it."

Zoro nodded. He understood now that there were things that the Everlastings and Dwellers just couldn't tell him, or something bad might happen. Though this was the first time one had indicated that the bad thing would happen to _him _instead of _them_… He brushed it off for now.

"…Why Luffy? Why you, and why Ace?"

Shanks slowed to a stop and considered this question for a moment. "Are you asking how victims are chosen here?"

Zoro nodded, glad that Shanks understood him so well.

Shanks laced his fingers behind his head. "Truth be told, no one's positive, but I have a pretty good idea why some come to join us and others don't. I've noticed a theme with victims."

He sat down in the air as if there were an invisible recliner there that Zoro couldn't see. "It's all based on energy. This whole place thrives on life energy. And I don't mean how physically strong someone is at all, no, no. I'm talking about a person's love of life; their life force itself. The strength of their heart and the size of their soul. These are things people of all ages have, and that others just don't have at all. These are things that the Hill needs feed on to survive. That's why I believe there are so many children and young people on the Hill. There are people out there with no ambition, no dreams, and sometimes no more will to live. Those people would never be claimed by this place. And then there are those whose life forces start to dwindle with time and the loss of hope. No…" Shanks looked up at the manor in all its beautiful splendor. "This place is attracted to a strong life force." His eyes met Zoro's. "Like yours," he finished.

Zoro drew back. "Mine?" he repeated.

Shanks nodded, but waved his hand nonchalantly. "Not to worry, yet. There's something different about you. We can all feel it. When you got here, you arrived with a strong power, a sense to see completely through the barrier separating our world from yours. None of the others have ever had that."

Zoro looked at Shanks in confusion. "So… what does that mean?"

Shanks leaned forward very seriously. "It means your special."

Zoro's brows drew together in confusion. "I don't understand. Special how?"

Shanks shrugged. "That's something I can't tell you. But I can tell you that you're the first one to have this aura around you, and that there must be a reason for it."

Zoro didn't have a reply to this, but Shanks' comment made him think,

It wasn't at all that he was unhappy, but he had had the feeling that he had this ability for a reason, and now that it wasn't just him anymore, that made it real to him.

"…Shanks," Zoro inquired again, "How… Why…" He stopped and sighed in frustration, and Shanks looked at him understandingly.

Zoro opened his mouth and chose his words carefully. "I want to help you all," he started, and waited for Shanks to nod before he continued, "but I don't know how to ask what I need to ask. I don't know what I need to learn in order to do this right, and it's making it… difficult, to say the least." He looked up at the redhead imploringly, hoping that this might, MAYBE get him something. He'd settle for ANYTHING concrete at this point.

Shanks nodded again, and then chose his own words carefully. "Her name was Nefeltari Vivi… and she was the first person to become a resident here in our sense of the word. I could tell you why, but I can't tell you the 'what' that the 'why' belongs to."

"What?"

"It means that I can tell you a story of once upon a time, but I have to stop before I get to the end, so you'll have to draw your own conclusions."

Zoro was suddenly all ears. "I'll listen to anything you have to say."

Shanks laughed a little, then leaned forward in his 'seat'. "All right. Take a seat."

Zoro was suddenly lifted off the ground and moved into a sitting position where he could feel nothing physical supporting him. It felt just like being picked up by Ace, and to look down at the nothingness that was holding him up would be too much, so Zoro made himself look into Shanks' face and nowhere else. He could take most of what this Hill threw at him, but he was not a fan of losing control of his body to strangers, and that would never change.

"I suppose the best place to start any story is at the beginning," Shanks sighed, and began his tale. "The first homeowners of this place were the Nefeltari family. Nefeltari Cobra had only one child; a daughter named Vivian. The family had many workers that lived in the manor and worked the land and helped manage the public, for this place was always busy. Because Vivi was his only heir, Cobra was very protective of her. She was to inherit all of the family assets, after all. So you can imagine how he reacted when a young gypsy with no last name wandered through town one day, laid eyes upon his daughter, and then decided to stick around. Whenever she came into town, the boy would watch her with an entranced look, and so feeling his gaze, Vivi would look at him and blush from across the road. Before too long Cobra noticed the boy and tried to keep him away from her, but in true Shakespeare fashion the boy snuck onto the property and came to her balcony one night. Boy met girl, and the two inevitably fell in love. Sounds nice so far, aye?"

Zoro's return nod was a little grim, for he knew how love stories 'in true Shakespeare fashion' played out.

"Their love progressed in the woods at night when they snuck away after dark. It continued by way of messengers who would deliver secret messages from one to the other during the day. It was whispered of behind closed doors by townsfolk and the vineyard staff. One day the boy tried to talk the girl into running away with him, but Vivi was loyal to her father, and would not hear of it, so the boy summoned his courage and went to Cobra to formally ask for his daughter's hand in marriage."

Zoro frowned knowingly at Shanks nonchalant shrug. "Naturally he was rejected outright." Shanks looked questioningly at Zoro. "You're upper class, I assume, since you're here?"

"Yes," Zoro affirmed.

"Then I also assume that you know what usually follows a parent's rejected proposal?"

Zoro nodded again, "Typically the parents of the girl would become nervous and immediately begin searching for a decent family with a son of the proper age with which to set up a betrothal."

Shanks sighed. "Right. There was too much of Cobra's own future riding on his daughter to lose her. He sought out an old friend the very next day and began discussions on getting Vivi with his friend's son who was incidentally two years younger than she.

"Within three days the wedding date was set, spinning everyone's stars into misalignment. You see, the night that the wedding date was set was the same night that everything went horribly wrong."

Shanks beckoned to Zoro, who leaned forward as Shanks' voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"According to the story as told to me by the gardener's daughters, twins who were there at the time and became like us only two weeks after the incident, the air was an oddly still that night. It was late when ominous clouds rolled in, blocking the light of the moon and the stars, but there was no wind that anyone remembers. The temperature dropped sharply. It was very quiet around the property for several minutes. And then the icy cold feeling of being watched that we all feel now settled over the Hill for the first time. You've felt before what it feels like to get near a resident of this Hill that doesn't really want you in their area, aye?"

It wasn't exactly a question, but Zoro nodded anyway, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the dark tone this was taking on, despite that he'd expected it. Zoro HAD felt it before. Not the feeling he got when an East Winger was hanging around someplace and watching him, but the feeling when he entered an empty room that had been destroyed, or when he'd entered the hallway to the West Wing that first morning after he'd arrived.

Shanks looked into his eyes and said, "That feeling is _nothing_ compared the feeling that first settled over the Hill that night almost a century ago. Sometimes we feel it still. At certain times. None of us are sure what happened that night. All we know is that that was that no one ever saw Vivi again."

"Is Vivi here? Can I talk to her?"

Shanks shook his head. "She's never been here. When the gardener's daughters came to be like this days after Vivi vanished, Vivi wasn't here. We can't imagine what happened to her."

__

Great. More confusing details.

"…Is there any hope I have?" He'd become so attached to the people here. He couldn't bear to resign them to eternal imprisonment.

Shanks looked at him imploringly, willing him to understand his next words. "You _are_ hope. The only hope we have. We've been hoping for _you_. Waiting for you all this time. We didn't know if anyone would ever come who would sense and understand us, but we've clung to that hope because it's all we've had. Especially the children. We've made up nursery rhymes about the someone who would come, and now hopes are rising," he said with some excitement. "No pressure," he then added.

Zoro nodded, the weight and importance of responsibility refilling him with determination.

Shanks nodded once in approval of Zoro's attitude. Then his smile broke out again and Zoro felt himself being moved to stand on his own again as the red-haired man spun with a furl of his mantle and began walking down toward the front gate where Zoro could now see Mihawk watching them like a bird of prey.

Zoro called after him, wanting one more answer from the man before he went back to (neglecting) his watch duties. "How come no one else is willing to try telling me as much as you just did?"

Shanks paused for a moment, turning to look over his shoulder. "…Because I love to challenge my limits."

Zoro caught the rebellious glint in his eyes before Shanks dispersed from view.


	15. Obsidian Outside

Here's the betaed version of this chapter. **Ahja Reyn** is here to save us all from a lot of hardship and confusion!

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

15

_**Obsidian**_

_"He ran and ran through the darkness until he could not run anymore. His lungs burned as he tripped and fell to the earth, hands sinking into the damp leaves beneath them. As he tried not to breath too loudly, he felt around for something, anything that could help him. As he felt, his hand came across something that was furry and wet. His fingers came up sticky from what he'd identified to be a newly-dead rabbit. Horrified, he listened in the darkness. It was cold, and still. He was able to make out the sound of the water lapping at the bank nearby, but that was all. There were no other signs of life. Not even a bullfrog croaked. No animal made a sound, yet he knew he was not alone." _

-------------------------

Luffy stood outside in the hallway for several minutes before finally entering Ace's bedchamber through the wall that he knew his brother was likely to be near. It was a common joke that Ace generally treated his bed as his throne and governed everyone from it. It was an exaggeration, but Ace had never told them to stop telling it, so they all guessed he didn't care. He went with the flow like that.

Sure enough, Ace was standing beside a bedpost and talking to Conis about hospitality, of all things.

Nami and Usopp were in a shouting match about whether or not the redheaded girl had cheated at cards, and Kaya was getting dragged into it by refusing to take a side. Paulie was smoking a cigar like a chimney (something he was NOT allowed to do in Ace's room) and Luffy was sure he was just taking advantage of the fact that Ace was _already_ giving a lecture to somebody else and therefore couldn't lecture him at the same time. Robin looked frustrated at the amount of arguing going on and Chopper was sniffling in the corner because he hated it when people fought. Tilestone suddenly decided to take Usopp's side in the fight and his LOUD VOICE joined in the argument, which made Ace have to talk louder to even be heard.

"…already knows about us, Conis, I know that. But how can you expect Zoro to keep making up ridiculous excuses for it? You're dad's a really great guy, but he has to understand that while it's really nice of him to want to make the Outsiders feel welcome, he can't just keep cooking them breakfast every morning. This morning was the-"

"Ace," Luffy interrupted.

Ace held up a finger, silently telling him to wait. "-was the second time that they've gone down to find breakfast already prepared and I think you can understand how that might begin to scare th-"

"Ace!" Luffy tried again.

Unable to ignore his brother, Ace turned to him, for the first time really noticing how nervous Luffy looked. Then it occurred to him that his baby brother had actually _come into _the room of his own accord, so something had to be up. "What's the matter?" He let Conis go with a smile and a bow before turning back to his brother.

Luffy shifted his feet, glad that everyone else was distracted. All the same… "Can we go outside?"

Ace nodded and started to follow his brother out the door as Paulie let out a cry behind them, his cigar suddenly bursting into flame with a WHOOSH that lasted a split second before the ashes that remained crumbled and fell to the floor.

Paulie gulped. "S-sorry, Ace."

"Uh-huh," Ace frowned over his shoulder before the door closed.

Luffy turned and face his brother. "Did you feel anything weird? I thought I felt something weird."

Ace was nodding before he finished his question. "It's just what usually happens; there's been no starlight and it's making everyone testy. I mean, Conis just started an argument with me. _Conis_," he emphasized. "And that girl's got some real kick to her," he added in bewilderment

Luffy looked at the closed bedroom door. "It's affected their tempers. But I thought I felt something else a few minutes ago. It… it wasn't much, though. Just a blip, like something happened somewhere on the Hill."

"I didn't notice anything," Ace said. "But I've had my hands full. Anyway, it probably wasn't anything to worry about. All the same, where's the family?"

Luffy shook his head. "Zoro's in town. I heard the little girl singing in Nami's room on my way here, and I felt the blond's presence on this floor as well."

"Okay. Everything's good then, aye?" Ace ran his fingers over the brim of his cowboy hat. "Wanna come in and do some damage control with me? It's been a while."

Luffy looked at the door hesitantly. "…It is a little crazy in there, aye?"

Ace smiled and squeezed Luffy's shoulder. "I could use a hand," he prodded further. His brother hadn't been willing to assert his position in the manor for over a year. It required socializing, after all.

Finally, Luffy nodded. "Aye. I'll help."

--------

Zoro came running into the foyer dripping wet. He'd stayed out a few minutes too long. He hadn't noticed while talking to Shanks how much the wind had started howling, but right after Shanks had dispersed the rain had started falling. It started as a sprinkle, and by the time Zoro got to the front door it had turned into a torrential downpour. Oregon didn't mess around with its coastal storms. Zoro hoped this wasn't normal, though, because two or three days of rain this heavy would see the town halfway under water.

He knew it was about dinnertime by then, though, so he wrung out his shirt on an expensive-looking rug and went straight to the dining room where, sure enough, both his cousin and sister had already started eating.

Without saying a word Zoro passed the doorway and dished himself some food from the kitchen before coming back.

"Hey," Sanji said as Zoro sat down.

"Hey," Zoro returned.

"You're wet," Sanji accused. "And you're sitting on the furniture."

"How observant," Zoro applauded. "And you put them together so quickly, too."

"You're going to ruin the chair."

"No I won't," Zoro argued. Based on the pristine condition of everything on the Hill, Zoro was going to take a stab that furniture here was pretty resilient. In fact, he was confident that he could leave a chair in a bathtub for a year and pull it out only to find that it was still brand new.

"Where were you today?" Sanji said, continuing to sound accusing for no particular reason anymore other than there was a _chance_ it would annoy Zoro, and _that _was his life's Secret Mission.

"City Hall. I looked up property records to see what kinds of changes have been made over the years to the manor." There. That sounded convincingly like he had actually done something worthwhile that day, and now Sanji couldn't nag him.

"What the hell did you waste time doing that for? We can tell what the manor has by walking around in it. What does it matter when things inside were altered?" Sanji asked as an olive fell off Zoro's fork.

Zoro glared at Sanji as if HE had knocked the olive down with his Grating Voice.

"Did you see Sydian outside when you came in?" Kuina asked around her mouthful.

"Nope," Zoro grumbled. "Why, did you lose him?"

"No! I took him out potty right after lunch and we were out by the vines in the yard, and he must've heard _something _because his ears perked up and everything and then he went racing into the vines barking. I tried calling him, but he kept running."

"Did _you_ hear anything?" Zoro asked.

Kuina half shrugged and frowned. "Well, it's really windy and noisy because of the storm. I figured he ran off because of that. The wind was rocking the vines a lot."

"So he got distracted and went exploring," Sanji brushed it off. "No biggie. He'll be out front when we check in a few minutes."

Kuina nodded, but didn't looked convinced. "I hope he didn't get lost. He might not hear us if we call him because it's so windy out."

"He'll come," Zoro decided…because as far as he was concerned he was psychic and just knew things like that. "He's afraid of storms. There's no way he'll stay out for long. We'll call him in after dinner, though, because he'll want to sleep in my room later since it's raining and I don't want to smell wet dog all night."

Kuina smiled. "Kay," he nodded, and took a huge bite of food.

Sanji saw a break in conversation, so he put down his fork and chewed his food quickly in order to fill it. "So," he said after swallowing with an audible gulp, "tomorrow, I want to set up an appointment to get phone lines run up here. Seriously, Zoro," he said before Zoro even opened his mouth. "If something bad happens up here, we'll be royally screwed. We have no idea what the condition of the West Wing is. For all we know it's in danger of caving in while we're sleeping or something. And we need to know or we can't possibly make any kind of accurate financial restoration estimates. I mean, that's why we came here. It's our first big job from my dad and we need to get it right or I'm gonna flip, alright? Just so you all know."

"Sanji was smoking in the kitchen earlier," Kuina suddenly said, making Zoro glare at Mr. We've Gotta Do This Right.

He didn't know if she'd wanted to change the subject or if she'd just remembered at that random fluke of a moment, but Zoro could have kissed her.

_Now _he could do something he _thoroughly_ enjoyed.

"Sanji!" Zoro dramatized accusingly.

Sanji suddenly looked fidgety. "It's not like it hurt anything!" he defended weakly. "It was just one time…Geez…"

"How many times do I have to fucking tell you to smoke outside?! Is it that hard for you to remember to go onto the balcony over the garden first? There's a door right down the hall. It's like thirty feet away from us right now!"

"But who wants to smoke in a cemetery?" Sanji argued. "It's all creepy and disrespectful--but mostly just creepy, and I don't like how it's so quiet all the time out there. There aren't any birds or insects or anything that shows a sign of life. The air doesn't even move there!"

"Afraid of ghosts, Sanji?" Kuina said, trying not to smile as if the whole scene was the funniest she'd seen in a while. Zoro frowned at her.

"It's a graveyard," Sanji stated bluntly. "I've tried to go out there and smoke before, but the whole thing is just so… dead. And it feels like those damn statues are staring at me…"

"Then smoke out front," Zoro offered.

"It's not much better out there! It's too…alive in the courtyard! It feels like things out there are moving around too much. The garden's dead and the courtyard is fucking alive. Drives me nuts."

"Well, you did say that you wanted to advertise the Hill as haunted," Kuina answered easily. "This should make it easier, right?"

"Yeah," Zoro seconded. "Dead zones and hot spots. The public will love it."

Sanji ran a hand through his hair. After a few seconds, he sighed and looked back up as his hand fell back on the table. "Yeah. I just… can't wait till we get some more people living up here and clean everything up."

The step-siblings continued eating as Sanji stood and made for the door. "I'm gonna go find Sydian. Put your dishes in the sink when you're finished."

"Right," Zoro nodded, taking another bite of food. "Hey, Sanji," he suddenly called before his cousin disappeared out the door. Sanji didn't turn, but he did stop walking. "…Take it easy, man. Alright?"

Sanji waved over his shoulder and walked down the hallway.

"Zoro," Kuina turned to her brother.

"What's up, Sprite?"

"…I'm worried about Syd."

Zoro sighed, nodded, and put down his fork. "Let's go get him, then," he said, rising from the table. Dinner could wait. In truth, he was worried about his cousin. Sanji was getting edgy and Zoro didn't like it when his family got scared.

Kuina smiled and scooted out of her chair to run after him. When they got to the foyer they saw Sanji walking towards the stairs from the front door, soaking wet and looking _really _annoyed about it.

"Get wet?" Zoro smirked.

Sanji shot him a glare. "Can't even smoke out there. Too wet to light up," he grumbled. "You gonna look for the dog?"

"Yeah," Kuina answered.

Sanji nodded toward the steps. "Get your coat first, Sweet Pea."

--------

Zoro decided to take a lesson from his being totally drenched earlier as well, and jogged to his room to get his coat. Thanks to the storm it was pretty dark in his room, so he instinctively reached for the light to find it wouldn't turn on. Well, that just meant Luffy was out. He was too tired and distracted by all the clues floating around in his mind to worry about it. There were so many things to reflect on now that he'd spoken to Aaron D. Shanks.

If the Hill was attracted to strong life forces then how come nothing had happened him?

On that note, what had happened to Vivi? The most obvious answer to Zoro was that she had run away from home when she heard that the date had been set for her to marry some total stranger, and that's why she wasn't here. But that didn't explain the Hill turning into something akin to the Devil's Triangle, and it didn't explain the connection Shanks must have found somewhere in order to bring the two events up as one.

Zoro grabbed his coat and met up with the other two in the corridor, idly wondering if Luffy was with Ace. The other halls were empty, too, and when they got downstairs a minute later the lights in the lobby wouldn't turn on.

---------

Zoro wiped the water from his eyes for the thirteenth time. The storm was blinding. He was grateful it wasn't dark yet.

When they had all called out of the back and front doors to find no trace of Syd, the three decided to split up, Kuina going with Sanji. If he wouldn't come when called, they would have to go chase him down.

Now Zoro was out back in the garden because it would only take a little while to check through, and neither of the other two were keen on the idea of running across hallow ground in the middle of a dark storm.

Zoro shouted for Sydian and ran around the cemetery one more time. The brush was high and made it hard to see anything on the ground, but Zoro was soon sure that the dog wasn't there.

He jogged through the rain and out of the horseshoe that the manor formed. The vines were out there, so he stuck close to the wall, gambling that the storm was pretty good distraction from himself and nothing would notice him. Still, they had to move fast.

He was more or less under his balcony when he saw his family up ahead. He waved his arms in the air, and the three met up with him on the east side overlooking more vines.

"Find him?" Sanji practically shouted to be heard over the wind. It was loud, howling, and cold, the rain water hitting his skin hard and sharp, and at times almost horizontally. Even standing perhaps two feet away, Zoro barely heard him.

"NO," Zoro hollered back, shaking his head in case the two couldn't make out the answer.

"Is he still in the vines?" Kuina yelled, but her voice was high and got lost in the wind, so she had to point to show them what she was asking.

"Don't go into them," Zoro called back to her. "You might get lost yourself. Stay up here and keep calling him. If he's anywhere nearby, he'll hear."

"No way, Zoro," Sanji rebuked. "We can't even hear each other."

"He'll come back on his own! We can't go out into THAT," he waved at the wildly moving vines, "and expect not to get lost. It's getting dark too fast."

"What if he's hurt?" Kuina asked.

"He's not. He might have gone inside already. You left the doors open, right? He wouldn't keep playing in this, and there's no way he stayed out in that mess."

"He's still only a baby, Zoro," Sanji argued. "And he doesn't know the property yet. He might have gotten disoriented and lost."

"We need to go find him!" Kuina shouted. She turned to run into the vines when Zoro grabbed her arm to stop her.

She was leaving him no choice. "You can't go out there yourself, Kuina!" He looked at Sanji, but continued to address his sister. "Sanji and I can go down and look for him."

Sanji shielded his eyes and looked out over the vines again. The wind was blowing them hard and the sticks they were tied to were beginning to lean under the pressure. It wouldn't feel good going out there, but they couldn't in their right mind leave a puppy lost, and if they wanted to find him, they had to do it before the vines started falling.

"Yeah," Sanji shouted back. "We'll go bring him back. You're the only one with a flashlight, and it's going to be dark in a couple minutes, so you need to wait up here with the light. That can be our beacon in case it gets too dark, okay?"

"Like a lighthouse?"

Zoro nodded. "Exactly. Like a lighthouse. Keep the light on the vines at all times so we can see it. If Syd comes to you, start flashing the light and we'll know to come back. Come on, Sanji."

The two plunged in and it took only seconds for them to get separated as they called for the dog to come.

"Be careful!" Sanji shouted to Zoro over the wind before disappearing from view down another row.

"SYD!"

"Sydian!"

"Come Syd! C'mere boy!"

"SYDIAN!"

Zoro could see nothing, and he couldn't sense much with nature being so chaotic. He had no idea what might have been out there at the time, but he hoped neither of them ran into… anything that they couldn't deal with. He hoped Luffy wouldn't be mad at him later, but he had to do what he had to do. Then he laughed at himself. Why was he worried about what Luffy would think at a time like this? That was a sign of things he didn't want to think about just at that moment.

Leaves whipped his face and he squinted his eyes to see beyond them, but with everything moving so violently it was impossible.

"SYDIAN!" he shouted again. "SYD!"

Somewhere to his left he could hear Sanji screaming the same, but thanks to the wind he didn't know how close or far apart they were. The vines were too tall to see over.

What Zoro was afraid to think about was the reason Syd had run off in the first place. It had been no animal he'd heard. In fact, Zoro was secretly positive that Syd was the only animal on the Hill at all. It wasn't a peaceful, animal-loving environment that birds flew for miles to reach. Zoro'd never seen evidence of even a snake or a gopher. Or even cobwebs, for that matter. There were no animals on this Hill, and there could only be two reasons for that. Either they came and got killed, or they didn't come at all.

It was getting dark really fast now. Cloud cover was almost black.

Zoro was really scared of being in the vines. He couldn't see anything, but he knew there were plenty of Dwellers around. Shanks had said that the angry ones were in the vines.

_I'm an idiot_, he thought to himself. _Weather and dog be damned, we shouldn't be in here. _Luffy's image appeared in his mind again. _If something happens to me, who's going to help them?_

Diverting his course, Zoro ran towards the creek, eager to be free of the vines even if it put him in the open.

He was almost there when he ran into what felt like an invisible wall and fell on his butt in the mud.

"What did I JUST say?!" Shanks exploded behind him.

Zoro spun around to face him.

"Stay out of the vines!" the redhead repeated. "And what did you do? You went running right INTO them, and you brought someone else with you! What are you trying to do?!"

"I'm not trying to mess things up. I'm looking for my dog," Zoro insisted. "Have you seen him? He ran in this direction earlier."  
Shanks stared at him for a moment before his voice dropped in tone. "Go inside. Take your family and go inside."

Zoro wanted to argue, but he knew how absolutely stupid it would be.

Shanks' voice gained more volume when Zoro didn't move right away. "Look, I'm sorry he's lost but you need to count your blessings that the two people you're with _aren't_. And if _I_ hadn't come when I just did _you_ would be in a world of hurt right now." He pointed in the direction Zoro had been running. "That's the creek, and the bank is already full, aye? Plus it will flood soon and then they'll start moving, and not all of them will want to help you. When they find out you're here, and they WILL, you'll be out of time. Forget about the dog. There's a reason there are no other animals on the Hill."

Zoro's head fell. _I knew it. _

"You've got to protect your family," Shanks continued, using his power to lift Zoro to his feet. "Make sure you don't lose them, too."

Zoro nodded, turned and ran in the direction Sanji was probably in. Shanks floating after him, watching his back, so to speak.

"Is it safe for me to call him?" Zoro shouted over his shoulder.

_Not until we're further from the stream_, he heard in his mind.

Oh, that was a good idea. Much easier than screaming.

He was quiet for a moment before answering telepathically, "_Why are they all there?"_

_Because there's a storm and there's been no starlight, _Shanks answered_. Do you know about starlight?_

Zoro nodded and pushed past a cluster of vines that wanted to trap his feet. "_Luffy told me_."

_Good. It's good you're learning, _Shanks amended.

"_He doesn't seem to think so," _Zoro informed.

_Well, he's scared. You're in his room. That probably makes you his responsibility. That's how Ace used to keep Luffy busy. He'd give him a pet or something._

"_Gee, thanks," _Zoro said sarcastically.

_Starlight, _Shanks said, getting back to Zoro's question, _is what keeps us strong. When there hasn't been starlight for more than one night, everyone gets testy and fights are more likely to break out over stupid stuff. Did you not notice them acting a little odd inside?_

"_I haven't seen anyone inside today," _Zoro answered simply.

…_And you don't find _that _odd?_

Zoro slowed up a bit. Now that Shanks mentioned it, it was strange to not see Luffy in the room reading his new books. There was usually at least one person walking around the halls, too. Since Zoro had been to Ace's room and met everyone, they no longer dispersed around him, but said 'hi' on their way to his room.

_Out here it's like some unspoken rule that everyone clusters into different groups in certain meeting places when there's a storm, except it's not a rule. Everyone just does it to get out of the vines. Also it's so the weaker can stay near the stronger of us. You know we can really hurt each other, right? Well, we can only heal if we have the power to do so, and since people here are so frustrated, they aren't afraid to that that frustration out on others at times. The weaker ones are afraid to use their power when there's been no starlight and we don't know when it's coming back, because what if they get hurt? They don't want to be caught without power because they would be helpless. Not even to warm themselves, and they don't let the weather pass through them, so they get hit by it. _

"_You mean they won't disperse?" _Zoro asked.

_That's a good word for it, aye. It may be different inside because they have a roof and don't need to group up. It's not fun being powerless. We're helpless then. The biggest preblem is that we have to sleep, we can't heal, and we can't really function properly._

By now it was dark. Almost pitch dark and no way around it. Zoro was running blind, and Shanks stated leading the way. That's when Zoro saw Kuina's flashlight up at the house.

"Shanks, wait," Zoro said, forgetting to think it at him.

Shanks stopped and turned around, and Zoro pointed up at the light. "We sat up a signal before we came out here. If we flash the light it means we found the dog and Sanji will come out."

Shanks nodded and suddenly Zoro's feet were off the ground as they both shot over the fallen vines and back to the house. At the edge of the vines, Shanks put him down and he ran up to his sister. Shanks didn't leave the vines.

Zoro understood why right away. Dwellers, like Everlastings, were attracted to the strongest for protection. Shanks didn't want to attract them all to Kuina, and Zoro was grateful.

As he climbed the hill to where Kuina was searching for them and not seeing him, Zoro sent back a thought.

"_Is there anyplace out here that you can't go?"_

Shanks' reply was hesitant. _Aye, there is one place. No one can go there except you. Other than that place, I can go anywhere outside. We all can, though most of us have formed areas that they stay in. That's why I told you to stay out front where it's more… extracurricular. We play out front. Anyone can join. We live out back. Folks are a lot more territorial about it. But there are lots of children, and children go wherever they want to regardless of what we say. I suggest you stay out front, as I said earlier._

"_There're no different areas for the dangerous Dwellers and those seeking refuge?"_

_There're plenty of things for upset people to take their emotions out on besides each other. It's not a war zone out here, Zoro. _

Zoro scoffed despite himself. "_Then things are a lot different out here than they are inside."_

Kuina only saw her brother when he was almost right next to her. "Zoro! Did you find Syd?"

Zoro didn't answer her, but grabbed the flashlight and began flashing it toward the vines.

"Where is he?" Kuina shouted again.

"I don't know, Sprite. But we can't stay out here anymore. The vines are falling over and if we get stuck in them we won't be able to get out."

Kuina suddenly looked near tears. "You LEFT HIM?! ZORO!"

"Look, there's zero visibility out there, and he can't hear us."

"Then take the light with you!"

"Then we won't be able to see to come back. Kuina, we have to go inside."

"We can't go in without him!"

"We can and we will!" Zoro was seriously fed up with this tantrum. Where was Sanji?

"There's more out there than just Syd, Kuina."

Kuina started arguing again and Sanji pushed past the vines looking more than a little scared. "DID YOU FIND HIM?" he asked shakily over the wind.

"NO," Zoro shouted back, "BUT IT'S TOO DARK TO KEEP LOOKING."

Sanji pushed himself up to the wall and agreed. "We have to go in. Now."

"You're BOTH quitting?!" Kuina asked in disbelief.

"What happened?" Zoro asked.

Sanji ran a hand over his face. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but I swear someone grabbed me out there."

"Someone? What?"

"Look, I didn't… SEE anything, but I know…" he trailed off, eyes never leaving the vines. "I had to pull away from whatever it was. It hurt me."

"Did it hurt Syd?!" Kuina sounded panicked. "We can't leave Syd out there!"

Sanji looked down at her, surprised to find her freaking out. "Kuina, it's too dark to see anything. He can see in the dark, he'll be fine."

"Cats see in the dark, not dogs!"

"A ton of dog breeds hunt nocturnally. He can see better than we can. We're gonna get sick, come on."

The boys started heading in, leaving Kuina no choice but to follow reluctantly.

Shanks followed, too, and Zoro saw why when they reached the courtyard. About fifteen little children were huddled around the fountain looking cold and scared. Shanks jogged up to them and called, "Hey, guys!" which was followed by a loud cheer of "SHANKS!" and a bunch of little children flocking to their savior.

Shanks, for his part, enjoyed the attention immensely and ruffled the hair of the boys nearest him while bringing the littlest ones in close.

Sanji turned and looked toward the fountain suspiciously, and for the first time Zoro noticed he was holding his arm.

"Sanji? What's wrong?"

Sanji looked at the fountain for another minute or so as the kids all ran to Shanks and hugged him like a mob of Lilliputians. Then the courtyard warmed up and the rain lessened.

Zoro hoped Sanji wouldn't notice, but really, how could he not? Shanks wasn't a discreet individual.

"Sanji?" Zoro tried again. "Do you see anything?"

Sanji shook his head slowly. He couldn't see anything, but he felt something, and he could tell by how Zoro was trying to pull him away that he could, too. It was storming wildly everywhere but in the ring of the courtyard. No, there was nothing odd about that.

Zoro called again. "Come on. Before the wind comes back."

It was another moment or so before Sanji slowly turned and followed after his cousins without saying a word.

* * *

AN: This is NOT the end of a chapter. This would be the suckiest ending ever. The second half of this chapter is coming. 

I did something lame. That little snippet at the start of the chapter... I wrote it. It's not part of any story i wrote or anything. it's a dream i had that had me waking up in tears. the next morning i wrote it down one paragraph from it and added it to my little scene things that i make and that sometimes pop into stories here and there as scene ideas, hoping it would capture the general... gist... feel... idea... thing of this chapter.


	16. Obsidian Inside

**Homecoming Hill**

16

_Obsidian Inside_

They got inside and closed the heavy front doors. The foyer was lit up now, telling Zoro right away that someone knew they had been outside in the storm. He looked across the lobby and up the stairs to see Nami, Usopp, and some huge guy he'd never seen with _really weird _blue hair Gathered there.

_A welcome wagon_, he thought to himself. But something didn't feel right about it. Why wouldn't they come fully out of their wing? They could come into the front of the house; Zoro's been eating and playing with Kuina there all week. Ace acted calm there, too. …But then Ace was Ace and he didn't exactly have to worry about being overpowered like those three did. Especially Usopp, who had no powers to speak of. Zoro'd never even seen him disperse.

"Zoro! How could you leave him out here?" Kuina cried, drawing his attention away from the Everlastings. "He's just a puppy and he's lost and you left him!"

"Sprite," Zoro sighed.

"Kuina," Sanji interrupted, "What do you want us to do? Get lost, too? Something IS out there but it's not Syd. I don't want you going anywhere near the vines again, got me?"

Kuina's lip quivered. She didn't believe a word they were saying. They were just being lazy!

Zoro stepped in. "Look, he ran off. We can't do anything more about it tonight. You wanna blame something, blame the storm. Or put him on his leash next time when you've seen that there are other things out there besides just you."

He couldn't help it. He was mad at himself. He'd just had his whole family running around out back in the dark. What kind of asinine person would do that knowing what he knew?

Kuina glared at him accusingly for a moment. Then, without a word, she ran up the stairs.

"That was a little harsh, dipstick," Sanji told him.

Zoro ran a hand through his hair. "She's eleven years old. She shouldn't be throwing tantrums like that at her age. She wasn't careful. Now maybe she'll learn something from this. It was reckless for us to be out there in the first place. We never would've found that dog."

Sanji nodded, unable to come up with an argument. What Zoro said was true. They spoiled her too much.

"Hey," he said, massaging his arm. "Did you come in and turn the lights on?"

Zoro looked up toward the lights, remembering that 'the power had been out' before. "Yeah," he lied. "It was just real quick. They started working."

Sanji nodded, but didn't look convinced. "Okay… Then um… did you feel anything weird in the courtyard a second ago?"

Zoro's mouth gaped like a fish for a second before trying to cover it up by taking of his jacket. "I… don't know. You mean when it got warm?"

Sanji nodded. "Yeah. That. What the hell is up with this place?"

Zoro frowned and looked up the steps again to see that the three were out of sight, but he could feel that they were still there. The lights were still on. "I'm doing research to learn more about the history of the vineyard. I'll tell you what I find out."

Sanji nodded. "Do that. Look into the disappearances, too. Those just… they don't sit well with me."

"That's what I'm focusing on," Zoro agreed.

The lights flickered twice, and Zoro starting leaning toward the steps, hoping Sanji would take the hint, but Sanji was distracted looking up at the light because it had blinked. He tried to sound cool and collected, but Zoro knew he was freaking out. He was still grasping his arm that had been 'touched'.

"I still don't get where the electricity to this place is centered," the blond murmured almost as if writing a side note on an ink blotter. He was distracted and clearly unfocused. He rubbed his arm harder.

Zoro draped his jacket over his shoulder and moved for the steps. "I think that, regardless of reason, this is our cue to get into our rooms and hope that the lights don't go out halfway through the trip," he hinted.

The lights started to dim, and Zoro picked up his pace. If the Everlastings were threatening to shut down the lights on him, then they wanted him in the East Wing pronto. Of course, Sanji was no idiot. Even if he didn't believe in supernatural things, Zoro heard him take a shivering breath and start running with him. Later he would probably claim that he didn't want to be alone in the dark, but Zoro knew the blond was starting to seriously second guess his stand on paranormal activity on this property.

It didn't occur to Zoro that the trio might have had another reason to dim the lights down to almost nothing until the feeling of a foreign presence was almost on top of him. On the landing that stood as a divider between opposite arched hallways leading to each wing, he turned sharply away from where he knew the three East Wingers were hiding to see a man leaning against the wall of the West Wing, arms crossed, watching him. A man who made no effort to mask his presence at all. Someone who wanted to be known. Someone whom Zoro was instantly afraid of.

As soon as he met the small black eyes of the snake-like man, his mind was filled with a dark cold unlike any he'd felt in his nightmares as a child. His vision went black and his chest seized. Then he felt hot, and all he could see in front of his eyes was fire. Red fire, and the smell of burning flesh, his father and Kuina's mother screaming, other people writhing in pain, burned beyond recognition. The hall way he was now in -the hall way of his father's hotel- was licked with flames in all directions-

He was in a graveyard, talking to a headstone like it was a real person, crying, pleading-

And then he was back. So suddenly was he back on the landing that he was sure he'd never left it, but he had to look around and regain his bearings to realize where he was.

Zoro looked back at the man in the West Wing, shaking beyond all reason and having no idea what to do, but the man did nothing, said nothing. He had done what he'd wanted to do, to what purpose Zoro had no idea, but now he just watched as Zoro forced his feet to step into the East Wing, where Nami and Usopp each grabbed one of his arms, one of their hands warm, the other one freezing, and helped him to the next flight of steps quickly.

The man made no move to harm any of the three, and none of them spoke to each other, and Zoro knew it was because the three from the East Wing were too afraid, and the West Winger didn't need to bother with them. Zoro could feel it immediately. This man was cruel. He was strong and cruel and delighted in torture. He also thought very highly of himself and rightfully so. He was evil. The others represented no threat to him. They were a waste of time.

Zoro didn't know why he didn't come after them to the bigger prey as he obviously wanted to, but there was the promise of unfinished business in his aura. This wasn't the last Zoro would see of this man. This crocodile man.

Oh, yes. Ace had said his name only once and under his breath, but Zoro knew without a doubt that this man was the reason Luffy wouldn't leave the East Wing. This man… he liked mental torture. He could dig into people nightmares and pull out their worst traumas, forcing them to go through them over and over again. He could tear apart even the strongest spirit and leave them catatonic, given enough time.

Zoro felt sick to his stomach. He and the ghostly trio followed behind his cousin-who had no idea that any of this had happened-away and up the stairs to the third floor where their rooms were. The two smaller Everlastings leading and the blue haired guy taking up the rear once Zoro passed him. That probably meant he was the strongest of three, but that brought no comfort to Zoro or the Everlastings on his arms.

This was why they hadn't come out of their wing. The West Wingers could come into the front of the house, too, and stepping out would make them fair game.

But Crocodile could have come for the three in the East Wing, if he'd wanted to. The fact that he hadn't when his love of hurting was so obvious made Zoro more nervous than he wanted to admit. What was he waiting for?

The five made their turns to get to the hall with Luffy's room in it and stopped in front of Sanji's door. Provided Crocodile did not follow them, they were out of harm's way now.

Zoro tried not to look green when Sanji turned to him, and Nami helped by keeping the lights dim.

"How's your arm?" Zoro asked, piquing Usopp's attention. Sanji was Usopp's roommate, after all.

"It's fine," Sanji shrugged. "Doesn't even hurt anymore. Just spooked me that there was some freak in our yard. Probably just a bum. Figure he's gone?"

Zoro nodded, wondering if Sanji really thought it was a bum, or if he was just comforting himself. "You scared him off, I'm sure. You know how the townsfolk are about this place. He probably thought there were ghosts in the vines."

Sanji didn't respond.

"Well," Zoro said, wanting to get back to his room. "As long as you're okay, I'm gonna hit the sack. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Yeah," Sanji said in an uncharacteristically soft voice that was clinging to hope by a thread. "And then Sydian will turn up and this whole night can just be forgotten about."

Zoro managed a half-smile, but couldn't bring himself to nod. They would never see Sydian again, and both of them knew it.

Usopp followed Sanji into the room and willed the lights on so when Sanji hit the switch.

Once inside, Sanji leaned back against the door and sighed in relief. It was over. He could lie to Zoro, but not to himself. What had happened outside had scared him.

He raised his hand to grasp his arm again. It really hurt, truthfully, and Sanji hoped it wasn't fractured. He couldn't say anything with Kuina there, and Zoro had looked sick, but he hadn't just had a 'brush' with danger.

Pushing away from the door, he went over to his bed and tiredly dropped his coat on the floor before pulling off his navy blue T-shirt and sitting on the bed to look at his arm.

"Geez…" he whispered as he reached to cup the bruise on his right bicep. It was already turning black, forming a red outline in the shape of a large human hand.

Usopp stood over him, watching with an unreadable expression. He had to tell someone about this. If Sanji was hurt then that meant he might need medical help down in the town soon, and the Hill wouldn't let him get it. They had all learned long ago that when someone got injured or fell ill, it was only a matter of time before they weren't Outsiders anymore. Injuries attracted attention.

Sanji needed help to get this reversed as quickly as possible, and they would have to be the ones to give it, and that would prove difficult.

This was why long ago they had figured out that if they wanted to try to help an Outsider in any such way, they had to be stealthy about it. There were a few Everlastings that had healing powers in the East Wing. Usopp wasn't one of them. He sighed and looked at Sanji's wound.

He was useless. A burden on all of them. It wasn't his fault. No one could choose how much power they were imbued with, yet still he felt guilty. He was an exception to all the Everlastings. He was the only one with no powers at all. He could Disperse for maybe a minute a day if he concentrated very hard, but that wasn't really considered a 'power' by the others. To them, powers were great shows of strength. Blowing things up, floating things, or even changing form as in Robin's case-_those_ were 'powers' because they were _strengths_. They were _useful_.

The others could Disperse and Gather all day without feeling a thing, provided they weren't completely drained of starlight, and even then Usopp had seen Tilestone get really low on energy and still not feel preservative about Dispersing-it was just so second nature to them all.

And if he got hurt, where most Everlastings had enough energy reserved to heal themselves in minutes, Usopp would lie in pain for days-weeks, even-and wait for his minimal energy to repair the damage. He didn't consider Dispersing once in a while to be a real power. He had nothing to contribute but friendship, and with the danger being as thick as it was with Outsiders in the house, friendship wasn't enough.

When Sanji went to bed he left his arm above the covers because he didn't want to roll on it during the night. Usopp concentrated on the appendage, trying to make some sort of difference in the wound; trying with all his might to heal it. So what if it left him weak afterward? He would have to sleep that night anyway, so what difference would it make. If it worked, he'd have found a way to be useful to his friends. He wouldn't just be in the way anymore.

After several minutes of trying, Usopp slumped in defeat. Nothing had changed except he had worn himself out trying.

With a forlorn sigh, Usopp left the room in shame and headed off to tell Ace and get the best healer in their wing, Chopper. The only thing that really capped off his feelings of inadequacy was knowing that he could be shown up by a six year old.

After Sanji's door closed, Zoro went down the corridor to where his own door was waiting open for him. Nami and the strange looking blue haired man went ahead of him, no doubt to report to Ace like the good little soldiers they were.

The blue haired man was a strange one, indeed. Besides having blue hair, which was odd enough in itself, he was also almost eight feet tall. He had a large upper body set on legs as skinny as toothpicks, very small upper arms, and enormous forearms leading to hands the size of trash can lids. He also wasn't wearing shoes. What he was wearing made Zoro seriously worry about whether he belonged in the East Wing or a sanitarium. Underneath an open Hawaiian shirt he had nothing on but a Speedo.

He hadn't introduced himself, and Zoro wasn't sure whether to be offended or glad.

The blue haired man quickly became the least of his worries as he walked into his unnaturally cold room to be met by his roommate who was looking out the window overlooking part of the vineyard. The fire in the fireplace was bluish-purple, but instead of being hot as blue flame was supposed to be, it was creating almost no heat at all. Luffy's posture was stiff and could see him shiver with cold, but the temperature didn't accommodate for him. Zoro had the feeling that the fire responding to his emotions again, and Luffy had no real control over his powers at the moment.

He hadn't noticed that Zoro was in the room, so Zoro cleared his throat. "Luffy?"

The fire flared violet as Luffy spun in surprise, and the eyes that met his were full of fear. Fear of what, Zoro did not know, but upon recognizing Zoro, the fear was quickly replaced with a variety of emotions that swirled turbulently within him.

It was quiet for a moment before Luffy settled on a reaction.

"Are you okay?" he whispered. His eyes looked confused and sad.

It stopped Zoro's excuses in their tracks, and forced a nod.

Luffy nodded as well, but it was to himself. After a few more moments of silence he whispered, "…Why?"

Why what? Why was he late again after telling Luffy he wouldn't be anymore? Why did he keep endangering himself? Why had he gone outside? Why was he still here at all? There were a million things that 'why' could have meant, but there was only one answer good enough for all of them.

"Because there's something I have to do."

Luffy was quiet for a moment longer. Then he became angry.

"Who said you have to do anything? We didn't ask for your help, did we?"

"No one needs to. This is something _I have _to do. I've decided it. It's done."

"_Why_?"

Zoro offered him a sad smile, knowing that Luffy couldn't understand. "Because I have to."

He almost regretted saying anything at all a moment later, but stood his ground and hoped that Luffy's powers didn't include an ability to melt him into a big puddle of goo, because that's exactly what he looked like he wanted to do right at that moment.

Then the Everlasting turned sharply around to face the window again.

"Fine. Do your thing. You don't learn, do you? What the hell is the matter with you?" he began to scold, putting up that wall that Zoro was getting to know so well.

"Outside…" he mumbled to himself. "…no idea what the hell is happening around you at all, but does he listen? _Noooo_, don't listen to Luffy. Ignore all the people who actually LIVE here…"

"I know I'm stupid, okay? And one of them saw me."

It became still and quiet.

"You're saying you saw a West Winger?"

Zoro nodded. "It wasn't as if they didn't already know we were here, and they've never come over before. Why would they now?"

"Because some of them are more dangerous than others, Zoro, and I don't know who it was that saw you. They don't exactly function in a happy community over there like we do. They're solitary, fighting amongst each other almost every chance they get. They have NO HOPE. Can you even imagine feeling like nothing will ever matter again, but you can't end it? Those people would have taken their lives long ago if they could have. But that's not even the point. Do you think sheer will keeps them out of this wing? We aren't like the light switches, Zoro."

"Aren't they afraid of you and your brother?"

"Fear won't be enough to keep them away from you. It'll take more than that. If they want to, they'll come. And since they have so little to find excitement in other than fighting us now and then, if the stronger of them really want to come over, the rest will follow them. Most of them are cowards, but they respect strength, you see.

That's why taking these stupid risks is selfish! Have you paid attention to the others in this wing, Zoro? They're not strong. Not compared to most of the others in this house. I know that there are none that hold a candle to Ace, but Ace can only be so many places at once, and if they come, what will happen to Usopp? To Nami? And Conis? Hell, even Tilestone? He's big, but that doesn't matter here."

He looked like he could have kept going, but he stopped growling here. Instead Luffy reached up to massage his temples.

"…Fine," he said again. "What's done is done. I hope it was worth it. I hope you found what you were looking for, running around in the vines like a madman."

Zoro pulled on his pajama bottoms.

"What makes you think I was doing that?"

"I could see you out there. I'm not blind, and this sliding door IS made of glass."

Zoro tied the strings on his pants and turned back around.

"You know, it's not as bad out there as it is in here. I get the impression that they get along better with each other outside. They don't fight as much as you all do. And there are some really good people out there."

"I'm sure," Luffy sighed with a quick glance toward the family portrait on the wall. "It must be nice having all that space and open sky."

Zoro shrugged. "I don't know. They're have no protection from the snow in the winter or the heat in the summer. I'm sure they wouldn't say no to a roof right about now, either."

Luffy glance out the window again. "Aye… that's probably so."

Zoro sat on his bed, shoving some of Luffy's books out of the way to make room, and spun around to face the boy at the window.

"Hey, can you tell me something?"

"I don't really _want to _right now…" Luffy grumbled. "Depends on what you want to know."

"About the West Wingers. How did you guys all end up splitting into two wings like this?"

"I've already told you."

"But you haven't, really. It's just strange to think that the East Wing became a haven and so many people chose to leave it."

Luffy sat down in his cushy chair and watched the storm rage outside. It was quiet for almost a full minute, and then the lights went off. Zoro realized he was being ignored and started to lie down.

"_It's complicated. And simple, too, I suppose_."

Luffy's voice was quiet in his head, and Zoro stilled at the sound of it. The Everlasting did not look away from the window, or indeed move at all.

"_When I first got here there were only fourteen of us inside. But people often bought the Hill and moved in, so there was always people around to distract us and to give us the hope that someday…_"

He trailed off here, letting Zoro fill in the blanks that Luffy couldn't say on his own.

"_A long time passed, and as the number of Everlastings grew, Outsiders stopped coming as much. Being locked up like this made us stir crazy, but Ace and I guided everyone in both wings, keeping them busy like a community and distracting them from thinking bad thoughts. Still, time was monotonous and people started to go insane. Also there was a man who calls himself Crocodile who never listened to others and was the first to become openly violent. _

"_Those he fought with found there was release for them in the pain. It made them feel real, like why people cut themselves on purpose. People wanted the pain, and since we can heal with our power so long as we have the strength to do so, violence and self-mutilation became more accepted. Ace and I didn't approve of Crocodile spreading this notion around, so Crocodile and Ace came to a head one night. In the end Crocodile withdrew to his room in the West Wing and didn't come back. That was when the idea of a separation between the weaker of us who can't recover so easily and the ones who are still slowly losing their minds became more than just an idea."_

Luffy's voice stopped for several seconds, his eyes plainly envisioning a scene long since gone. Zoro was sitting up straight listening to every word. He was positive Luffy had drifted away, and he wanted desperately to hear anything the boy let slip.

"It was inevitable, I think, that things would fall apart," he said aloud, mostly to himself. "Still… it's my fault that it's all so bad now. Almost half the Everlastings stayed in this wing at first. But then something… A very bad thing happened one night a long time ago-two things, actually-" his voice was almost inaudible now "-and everything went crazy. That night left me in a bad spot and everyone started to hate me."

-_"Luffy, stop! What are you doing? Put it down!"-_

"Plus they discovered I have this power… only my power… and they hate me for that, too. They're afraid of it, Ace says. The rest of them that aren't still here now left after that. I think it's also why they've only tried to come over in small numbers so far; the ones who want to take back this wing haven't been able to gather enough of the others to march on us seriously."

Luffy stopped talking, making Zoro ask, "But my family's presence could change that? Why?"

Luffy continued to look blankly at this hands in the darkness.

-"_Luffy? Can you talk to me? I need you to focus on me, okay? We can't stay here, we need to go."-_

It was quiet for perhaps three full minutes before Luffy's completely unmoving form projected the next words in his head.

"Aye. Because they don't trust us anymore because of me, and we can do nothing to change the minds of those long-insane. But to them the fear of any Everlasting's powers is nothing compared to the power of the Hill, and the Hill is far more active with your family here. Ergo if they control this wing and you, a few believe they can harness that fear. They can't. The Hill won't let them enjoy its own power or own any outsider. I know. But they don't understand that, and when they try to take the East Wing this time there will be higher stakes. They'll make a move because your family is here. And because they make that move now, I foresee a huge power shift coming in Everlasting Manor."

"…Wow. ...Ok. Um...This fear you all have-"

Luffy shot him a look and Zoro stopped speaking aloud.

_"What more can the Hill do to you than it already has, really? If I can ask_."

Luffy sounded more frightened than Zoro knew he wanted to.

"It gets angry sometimes."

Zoro was shocked at this piece of news. He realized quickly that he shouldn't have been, but Luffy's words struck a chord. This Hill listened to them, it got angry, it bestowed power, and Shanks had told him he thought it fed off spiritual energy of humans, in essence eating them. It had many attributes of a living creature.

_Shame it doesn't sleep._

Then he wasn't tired at all. He longed badly to get up and write down all the puzzle pieces he had found, from the missing names on the grave markers to the ways in which the levels of power that the different people on the Hill had. He wanted to write down all the clues on paper that he had picked up on and start making possible guesses as to what exactly had happened on that night in 1969 (for the two things Luffy had mentioned had to be what Ace had been referring to. He hoped.). He wanted to get all his thoughts down on paper so he could just sort them out and make sure he wouldn't forget any.

But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. At least not while he was on the Hill.

So deep in thought was he that he didn't pay attention to Luffy approaching him until he felt the warm palm press to his chest.

"Sleep."

* * *

"Did you see him?"

"I did, Califa. It was very astute of you to figure him out so quickly."

"So he's really the real thing? An undetectable Outsider?"

"So it seems. But there's more to him than that, Mr. One."

"More, Sir?"

"He has a strange effect on the Hill. I felt it when I was near him. Though I'm sure he has no idea."

"Can you feel his trace?"

Crocodile closed his eyes and was quiet for several moments. Then his eyes opened and he continued to face his own window, overlooking the garden of graves and directly facing the East Wing.

"No. They must all be asleep. But it makes no difference. I know where he is."

"Sir?"

"I was able to observe him when our eyes met, and if Ace and his cowering excuse for a brother have not altered his memories, they are allowing that little Mugiwara to watch over him."

"_Luffy_? After what happened before?"

"We have to stop it, Sir Crocodile! We can't just leave them together."

"DON'T tell me what I must do, Mr. One."

It was quiet for several moments as Crocodile lit a cigar with his mind, considering his options.

The other three in the room appeared to be getting nervous.

"Should we remove him from the picture?" Ms. Doublefinger asked.

"Wait," Crocodile said instead. "Imagine what power it would give us to have him in our wing. Can you believe that Usopp elected to be in the retrieval team that came to get him when I approached? He put much as risk."

"Usopp? But he's basically powerless."

"Exactly. Which means those idiots over there must genuinely care for these Outsiders. And from what I saw of his memories, the one who cares for him the most is Ace's brat."

The other two took steps back.

"…Then is it safe to retrieve him, Sir?" Califa asked. "After all, Luffy-"

"Was NOT part of the retrieval team earlier," Crocodile finished. "Which means he is not a threat to us. He's still the terrified kid I left screaming and writhing on the floor so many times all those decades ago. I've only reinforced that every time we've met on the off-chance, which is why he won't come here anymore. I've considered him defeated for years, but having this Outsider, this _Zoro_ over here would give me a high hand over the Mugiwara child, because I would have something he loves.

"This is so much bigger than the issue of a new undetectable Outsider. Just think. If I have power over his precious little Luffy…If I have the ability to destroy something else that he loves and _really_ hurt him…"

"…Then you'll have Ace in your pocket," Mr. One finished for him with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Would that really work?" Califa looked doubtful. "Would he put those he protects at risk like that?"

"He would if he believed this Outsider was still looking for the way to 'save' us. He has hope. All of them do. Ace is the threat, but his protective instinct for his brother will be his end. Love is weakness. I will own Ace. With Ace out of the way, I will rule this manor, we will build our utopia, and YOU, my friends, will finally be rewarded."

The others smiled, and then Ms. Doublefinger raised a finger in question.

"What about when something happens to Zoro? How would we maintain our control of the situation?"

"We keep the D. boys from ever reaching starlight again."

"Until someone messes up and they get to starlight somehow. Forever is a long time to expect no slips."

"Do you forget what I can do, Mr. One?" Crocodile smirked dangerously. "I'm sure the family baby isn't the only one of the pair who is susceptible to his own worst nightmares."

The others snickered. It would be such wonderful payback to watch Ace slowly go insane.

"How should we do it, then?"

"En masse. Tell everyone else whatever you have to, just get them to agree. The East Wingers are a joke, and vastly outnumbered by us. There is no way they will be able to watch all of us at once. We will prevail. And ask Lucci to come to my room. I will convince him and his friends myself."

"Yes, Sir."

The three bowed politely and walked out of the room. Crocodile was a great man, a calculating man, but he was not a forgiving man. Still, many of them had loyalty to him for being the dreamer of a Utopian Society wherein all of the Everlastings were treated equally and allowed to move anywhere in the manor freely.

At least, that was what many of them were told. As most of the people in the West Wing were kennel crazy, they now wanted only the 'freedom' to have more space in which to be unpredictably violent. Crocodile found this distasteful, but the idea of a 'utopia' encouraged them follow orders until it could be achieved, which fulfilled to an extent his plan on making everyone in the manor follow him unquestioningly in a dystopia that they would be too far insane to recognize. And if any of the saner ones questioned his authority… let's just say that Crocodile had a cure for questions that made people cower from monsters only they could see more effectively than an overdose of PCP. The more fucked up their past, the better, and this house had some doozeys.

There came a knock on the door.

"Come."

Califa took a few steps inside and closed the door behind her.

"What is it, Califa?"

"I had one last question, Sir, just in case any of the others ask it to me."

Crocodile nodded for her to go ahead.

"What if, during the attack, Monkey D. Luffy does happen to come into the fight. This would, after all, be a broader attack than any other that some of them have randomly launched for entertainment, and he would know that eventually we would get through to his room. He'd have to fight us eventually. Especially if he's the one guarding the Outsider we're after."

Crocodile glared at her for a moment before considering her words. He honestly doubted that Luffy still had it in him to fight, so confident was he in the way he had crushed the boy years ago, but the others were not. It would take more than just an 'it will be fine' to get them to rise against Luffy.

At his continued silence, Califa furthered her question by offering more protests that she believed she would hear (and one that she feared herself). She knew many of them would barely be willing to go up against Ace, knowing that he could inflict more pain in a single blow than even the more extreme of the self-mutilators cared to deal with in a year, and knowing how much energy it would take to stay conscious through such a blow. Those with less power would lose all their energy just staying awake. Few of them had any real great power to speak of and they would probably be spending many nights in front of windows afterward, absorbing starlight just to heal themselves again. Granted, none of the West Wingers really had much power aside from Ace and Luffy, but _Luffy's _power… No one would face that.

"If he truly cares enough for Zoro that you would own both he and Ace if we get him, then Luffy won't run. Not from us. And no one will go up against him, Crocodile. They'll run before he can-"

"He won't!" Crocodile shouted. Then he regained his composure. "He's a child. A scared little child."

He turned to glare out the window toward the East Wing again.

"And if he DOES… I'll show him hell."


	17. In Stone

I'm back on this fic again. I had to stop because I was writing the original version, and that version is so different from this version. Changing it was easy. To be honest it's not even within the OP copyright as it is now. I removed several things, added a whole bunch more, but since the character in this are really my characters and totally unlike their OP characterizations, that was easy. It was the rewriting that took so much time. Almost every sentence in the whole book is different from those in this fan-novel. For starters, Zoro's character (Roan) is very Native American and Sanji's character is a major player. Ace and Nami will still be called Ace and Nami. It's actually pretty cool: I've learned from agents and national editors that this story's universe is so unique from One Piece that I could change a handful of names, publish it as-is, and not even get close to breaking a single copyright law.

* * *

**Homecoming Hill**

17

_In Stone_

__

"On the first day the sky will turn black, and the moon will disappear, yet only when the stars are veiled will the silenced ones fear. And then there will be the second day, the signs of impending war, and then the third day, the fourth, the fifth, and then nothing. It will start soon."

* * *

It was a slow morning.

Rain was swept against the glass door by fierce wind after falling from clouds that were determined to let only enough dim light through to cast shadows on the walls of the rooms, and Luffy wished he could touch all of it.

Zoro was sleeping late, and that was fine. Zoro was warm. A natural warmth relying on no strength endowed by the spirits of the stars to those whom God had decided were expendable. Zoro was his own star, radiating the intoxicating energy of mortality in an addicting stream, wondrous to those swallowed by Death's own Pale Horse only to be deserted at the gates and forgotten. It was comforting not to be alone. The quiet had become increasingly deafening over the years, preparing to devastate him in his own room even when his brother or friends were present. Since Zoro's arrival, however, Luffy felt that he was beginning to hear more of what was happing around him. He was listening and then hearing, observing and finally analyzing it all. That didn't mean that he was anywhere near ready to listen to the words echoing over the silence, but he could hear them and this enabled him the option of granting the words consideration. Perhaps what his brother had been telling him for years about him being crippled by loneliness was true.

Perhaps Zoro was his cure to many problems in his life. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing if Zoro were to stick around after the Quakes finally began to effect him…

Luffy hid his head in shame. He didn't want Zoro to be trapped here. He cared about Zoro, and friends didn't wish pain upon each other out of selfishness. Luffy would never tell him. Even if it meant that Zoro could come be with him forever, Luffy would never let the Hill do again what it had done last time he'd opened his mouth too wide.

If Zoro continued down the path he had chosen, the results would be inevitable anyway. Luffy hated being selfish. The Shifting hadn't had such an effect on him to remove his self-loathing for no longer being the person he remembered himself being, the person he had liked being. …But he was so lonely.

Dispersing in to a glittering fog that traveled across the floor, Luffy Gathered himself over the bed and curled up at Zoro's feet before closing his eyes to let his coconsciousness travel through Everlasting Manor in a way he hadn't since actively protecting the East Wing with Ace, and as he did so, old feelings of duty and responsibility, but primarily the need to feel united with others returned to him.

Without physically leaving the bed, Luffy hovered through the pitch library, heard the echoing silence of the empty East Wing corridors, swung himself through Usopp's room to check on Sanji. Usopp took no notice of his presence. In his room on the bed, Luffy smiled softly.

__

Usopp…

He flitted back out of the room, electing to skip Ace's and head downstairs where everything proved to be clear and quiet. Those he protected would be safe this night, but the time of inactivity between the wings had reached its end and their way of life if one so chose to call it would last no more than a few more nights at the absolute best. All of the lesser imbued would be called out. Ace would be called out. Luffy would possibly be called out if the West Wingers got cocky enough, but Luffy wasn't ready to answer.

If he fought, Luffy knew there would be one of only two outcomes; he would win or he would lose, and he wasn't ready to use his power to win anymore than he was willing to lose Zoro or any of the others. Still Luffy believed that if the East Wingers stood together they would be stronger than they ever imagined. They worked together well and none were especially the haphazard type to break a pattern in a fight.

In Nami's room Kuina was lying awake reading a book and showing no desire to leap out of bed and hunt for her dog just yet. Perhaps she was afraid of disappointment. She'd kept her door open just in case the puppy toddled in but Nami had closed it after the child had fallen to sleep, opening it again before she'd awoken. Nami was reading in her rocking chair in the corner looking relieved for the respite, but smiled when she felt his presence in the room.

"Ace?"

"Close," Luffy said, Gathering beside her chair.

"Luffy?" she smiled. "Hi. You haven't come to see me for a while, I was getting lonely."

Luffy blushed despite himself. Damn but she was cute. His first crush, Luffy'd wanted Nami the second she'd stepped through the door almost two decades ago, so naturally when she'd joined them he hadn't had the courage to speak to her until she'd been there for a nearly a month. He hadn't been helping Ace so much anymore at the time and there had been no reason to talk to her. And so to protect her and believing that she was better off not knowing him at all, he'd shyly avoided her until she'd cornered him one day and given him a hug to break the ice. After that she'd had eventually succeeded in using her charm and persistence to get him to open up to her. He trusted her and she genuinely cared for him. He loved her, but time and careful observation had made her more of a sister and best friend to him than a girlfriend. There was someone standing between the two of them whom Nami loved and Luffy would never challenge, and eventually the feelings eased into a comfortable sibling-like relationship that both of them enjoyed and Luffy could now utilize for something new.

"Aye. Sorry. New Outsider and all…"

"Mm-hm. You've been giving him quite a bit of your time."

His blush deepened. "I suppose. Nami can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Nami set down her book.

"You like my brother, right?"

"Of course I like your brother, Luffy. What kind of question is that?"

"You know what I mean."

Nami looked at her cerulean carpet, then met Luffy's eyes evenly. "Yes. I do."

Luffy nodded to himself. "But he's never confirmed his feelings one way or the other, aye?"

"Luffy, where are you going with this?"

"Then," Luffy pursued, "What would you do if Ace started paying attention to you in a new way that you weren't used to, but it was a good way, and you weren't sure what he thought about you, but you were afraid to trust him no matter how genuine he seemed because the two of you were from different eras and dimensions of existence and just… What would you do then?"

"Luffy." Nami was leaning forward with a smile on her face. "Everyone reacts differently in situations like that. If we were really talking about me and Ace, I would approach him and ask him about his feelings. But I wouldn't recommend you do that with Zoro."

Luffy lowered his head.

Nami continued, "What new kinds of attention has he been giving you?"

A shrug. "The same as always for him. New for me. _He's_ new for me."

"Go on," Nami then said.

Luffy shifted from one foot to the other, twisting his fingers. "Aye… um… He's nice. I mean you're all nice to me, but he acts like he really wants to know me, and I think he does… and he's not different from you guys about accepting me. Or any of us. But he's an Outsider. He's normal still. He should be running for the hills while he has time, not staying here trying to-" his eyes met Nami's. "Nami," he whispered, "he's trying to save us."

Nami's smile turned into a grin. "He is," she whispered to hear it twice before her attention refocused. "But that's not what he said," she continued, putting words into Luffy's mouth. "He told you that he's trying to save _you_, didn't he?"

Blush enforced, Luffy continued to shuffle his feet. "Not so simply… he can't say it at all actually. But the way that he says what he does say about it makes me think… I'm getting the impression that he's trying to tell me that he's doing it for me more than anyone. When he-" He cut himself off and Nami had to prompt him twice to continue.

"When he thinks about helping us, he thinks about me. …He thinks about me a lot."

Nami's mouth formed an 'o'. "Somebody's been disrespecting privacy…" she sing-songed. "Just because you can read minds doesn't mean you should, you know." But she looked thrilled nonetheless. "How much is 'a lot'? More than anything else?"

Another shrug. "I don't snoop that much, Nami. Geez…"

"But every time you do…?"

Luffy was positive his cheeks were flushed scarlet. "Aye. Every time."

"Quite the admirer, that Zoro."

Luffy didn't know how to answer her.

"I could never blame him," Nami went on, leaning back in her chair. "You're a very interesting person Luffy. I was interested in being close to you the second I saw you and you hid from me, and everyone else has told me the same thing at some point. You're an attention grabber, and not because you're a ghost or a head case."

"I'm not a ghost _or_ a head case," Luffy said superiorly, gaining enough footing in the conversation to smirk smartly before it all slid away and unsure Luffy came back, but with a little more confidence. "What do you mean 'attention grabber'? I avoid people."

"I mean you're intriguing. Despite what you think, you don't make a good hermit. You aren't intimidating and when you try to be you just come off as a hurt puppy that everyone wants to love."

Luffy grumbled something unintelligible, and Nami reached out and took his hand. "Luffy… it's not your fault you have the power you have. We know you didn't ask for it, and we know how you feel about it. You're interesting. Anyone would want to know you better. And having all those secrets rolling around on the inside makes you a mystery as well. Mystery is attractive to Zoro."

"How do you know that?" Luffy snorted.

"He's trying to save us, isn't he? Taking on a mystery like this despite the obvious dangers is the same as waving a sign around declaring his attraction to danger. Not that you're dangerous," she was quick to add, shoulders slumping at the sad look on Luffy's face. "Not even Usopp thinks you're dangerous. He's not afraid of you, Luffy."

Luffy fingered the brim of his hat and squeezed her hand in return when she gave it. "That's because I can't hurt him worse than I already have."

"Luffy…"

Luffy released her hand with a sad smile and said, "So what do you think I should do?"

Nami allowed the subject to drop. "About Zoro? I don't know. Give it time and the answer will come to you. But eventually one of you will have to step up if you want anything to come of it. Of course I don't know what sorts of thoughts he's been thinking about you specifically, so I can't offer great advice, but," she tilted her head, "there's nothing wrong about getting close to someone new again. Take a chance. You've already got his attention. He wants to be close to you, and all I can say with certainty is that you mustn't forget that letting him do this IS an option. You've got a huge opportunity that doesn't come up everyday and that the rest of us have never been presented with."

"Ace rigged it that way," Luffy mumbled.

"Ace can't control people's feelings. He entrusted you with an Outsider and that's all."

Luffy stood quietly.

"Nay," he said finally, looking up. "I just need to make him stop trying to learn me. I don't want anything from him."

"Don't you?" she said, bored.

Luffy walked to the bedroom wall preparing to pass through it into his own bedchamber, turning at the last moment.

"Ace likes you, too, Nami. But in his position, approaching you would be playing favorites in the eyes of many others, and he thinks about that. He's a leader and can't afford to appear foolish, so he'll wait until you approach him," he said, and commenced passing through the wall. "Just in case you've pondered about him." And then he was gone.

Nami watched the spot he'd vanished through, only vaguely aware of Kuina crawling out of bed to get dressed.

On the other side of the wall, Luffy Gathered on his bed to find that Zoro had not moved. _I used too strong a dose of power to put him to sleep._

Luffy stretched out before letting his limbs to go limp on the quilt.

It was a slow morning.

Thank God.

* * *

Zoro was stressed. Stressed and exasperated. Stressed and exasperated and a little bitter towards her.

She was going out of her way to try and make Zoro felt guilty about her dog.

According to several Everlastings in Ace's room that afternoon, Kuina-during the late morning, but still before either of the boys were awake-had meandered the corridors of the entire East Wing, checked out of every door she knew of, and even gone into the garden hunting for Sydian, all the while shouting his name for all to hear and gaining a lot of disrupted attention.

"Don't you people have anything better to do than watch her pitch her fits?" he'd asked Ace.

Ace had laughed at him. "First play in daily recreational ping-pong tournaments for a couple years, then come back to me and try to tell me then that you aren't desperate for a change in your daily routine."

Through breakfast and lunch Kuina had refused to look at him, turning her head in his opposite direction to play up her role as the emotionally wounded Prima Donna.

Zoro was patient, however, and intended to let her play her act out to the end. He had gone out front himself and called a few times, but there was no solid indication, only hope, that Sydian was still on the property. As he washed dishes, Zoro let it settle inside of him that didn't expect to see the dog again. He feared Kuina could feel it, too.

He finished the dishes and went to his room to see if Luffy was there.

He wasn't.

Zoro stood in the corridor pondering what to do. He knew it was a bad idea to wander alone, but it was only the East Wing, and he sincerely doubted there was anyone left that he hadn't met or passed by in the hall in the last week, so he wouldn't surprise anyone, right?

He chewed his bottom lip. He could go over to Ace's and see if anyone wanted to come for a walk with him, but he was afraid of who might volunteer.

Making his decision, Zoro walked down to the far end of the corridor to the back staircase and went up. It made no sense to drag one of the others along with him to hunt for something when he didn't know what he was looking for.

He wandered in and out of four rooms upstairs that he hadn't been in before. Two of them had been attic-like rooms with old mattresses and bed frames heaped in corners beside small tables with broken legs or half-complete dish sets and unused silver serving trays.

The third room was the darkest he had entered yet. The window was completely boarded up with the room itself smelling musty and dry. It was still and hot which juxtaposed uncomfortably against the cold of all the rooms and the outside surrounding it. Zoro shined his light around it a couple times, hesitant to enter. He guessed it had been a sewing studio at once point. Dressmakers dummies wearing half completed suit jackets and a black mantle that looked not unlike Shanks' own stood just big enough for people to conceal themselves behind if need be and were positioned in a scattered layout between cherry wood tables covered in measuring tapes, scissors, ribbon, needle cases, pincushions, and the odd teacup. Zoro walked among the mannequins with his flashlight while shadows bounced and shifted around the walls in a looming dance. He looked through chests of fabric that had never been used to make the dresses they had been bought for, and decided upon seeing a pale blue cloth with a haphazard smattering of large goldfish that he would commission the seamstress in town to have it made into a summer dress for his sister. He had an eye for dressing her. He'd been doing so for years. He was eager to get out of the shadowy room, though, and since he wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary per se, he move on, leaving the fabric on the fourth floor staircase to fetch later.

He'd at least glanced in all the other rooms on this floor before, but at first figured they all deserved a thorough look through for anything that might be hiding something historically significant.

* * *

Portgas D. Ace was floating silently down a second floor corridor because he was missing out on Something. He didn't know what that Something was, but he was very certain that he would feel better if he became a part of it. So far that day he'd had become aware of so little trouble unfolding in his wing that he decided to go and look for it. He had been waiting for it to come to him as it usually did, but on that unusually quiet day it was running so late that he was beginning to feel stood up, which was terribly unfair, he thought, as it had to be somewhere in this wing, probably growing in size and having a wonderful time with the Everlastings that were making it. In fact he suspected that when he found the trouble he would have to give it such a stern lecture that it would want to put _itself _on time out.

Where was everybody?

* * *

He'd had a thought in the midst of his monotonous clue hunting and it because of this thought that Zoro was down on the first floor of the East Wing snooping into an office with an impressive looking golden and completely blank nameplate on the door.

Like most other rooms this one was in pristine condition and looked to have just had its owner step out to lunch. There was no dust, the layout of the furniture was tasteful and objective, the chair behind the desk didn't squeak when he pulled it away, and the drawers slid open smoothly when he pulled on their handles and then began to rustle through their neatly filed documents.

The only thing he found was old news.

There were bank documents, property forms, birth certificates, death certificates, and bent brown and white photographs-all of them with random gaps in the writing where names should have gone. Holes hung open in mid-sentences as if the titles had been written by a stubborn person who insisted on having a name, then swallowed later on by the hungry paper.

Picking up a feather quill from ink blotter, Zoro swirled the tip on the while desk surface calendar and then wrote an uncommon name: Mercedes.

He stepped back and watched.

Nothing happened.

He wrote down three more names: Zeff, Thomas, Michelangelo.

He stepped back.

The older and more common name Thomas began to absorb into the paper and soon there was nothing left but the two much rarer names on either side of the new gap.

Zoro waited longer.

Nothing continued to happen.

Remembering what Luffy had said about the kanji for 'wave' in Nami's room only being there because it wasn't the true spelling of her name, Zoro wrote down 'Chopper'-a nickname.

Nothing happened with a vengeance.

Then he wrote down 'Kaya' and 'Paulie' and 'Conis', hesitated, and wrote 'Luffy'.

The paper sucked them all in like desert earth sucks up water.

Zoro set down the quill where he'd found it and frowned at the calendar. That had been educational and completely irrelevant. Now he knew there was a Thomas on this Hill somewhere, for all the help that provided. What was more, the ink from those names had gone someplace and he didn't want to call attention to himself as the source.

He was missing something major, and he knew-he _knew-_that it wasn't in the house.

He put the documents away and shut the door when he left.

* * *

Luffy stood at the top of the flight of stairs that linked the East Wing to the lobby straight across from the steps to the West Wing. Both flights of stairs were dark and empty, but Luffy knew that in not too terribly much time Ace would be meeting Crocodile at the bottom of these steps, and a great deal of their followers from both sides would be standing right behind them.

If it really happened in the way Luffy recognized it might, something would change. Territory would be claimed, boundaries would shift, some of his own might go mad, prisoners might be taken. Oh yes, there would be blood. Auras of fear, anger, hatred, exhaustion, and pain would fill the manor, as would the fierce instinct to survive. The Hill would love it.

* * *

Ace wasn't sure what to say. Were there words to fit a scenario like this? This didn't happen frequently enough for him to know them. Perhaps they had felt the coming doom and decided to throw a celebration in memory of the lifestyle that they'd been living all these years. Except, again, for that whole thing about them never actually having done this before…

A beach party had erupted in his room. A beach party that didn't care that there was no sand or ocean or sky or indeed anything beachy present at all. The trouble he'd been trying to meet up with along the way had apparently tried to find him after all, but they'd missed each other in the hall and it had arrived at his room while he'd been out. At the absence of a note left on the door, the trouble had decided to come in and make itself comfortable. The bedchamber he'd left nine minutes before hadn't had anybody in it, and now there was everybody in it, drinking wine recreationally because there wasn't any beer in the manor and slouching on moved furnishings and mingling about in little groups of two and three. The reason the furniture had been moved into corners was to make way for the volleyball court and consequential net that had been untied from the rec room walls and attached onto his own. A record player that also hadn't been there nine minutes ago was blasting a loose yet strictly saxophone version of 'A Summer's Day' through a tinny, brass speaker. The ping-pong tables had been stacked on his bed.

Ace suspected the democratic system was beginning to break down.

On the other side of the room Usopp caught the volleyball and prepared to cry out the score for those who cared to listen when he discovered that the people's attentions were dislodging themselves from him and onto the leader standing in the doorway gazing at them as a stern headmistress glares at a group of errant school children.

Some of the Everlastings suspected this meant that perhaps a Bad Thing was about to happen to them.

"Hey, Ace! Want to serve?"

Others did not.

Ace stared at the layout in front of him. He opened his mouth. He shut it again. He lifted his finger as if preparing a lecture. He dropped it again. He looked at his floor. He looked up, started to speak, stopped, started again, and this time he continued to speak.

This is what he said.

"I'd like to know what the compelling reason was for you all to have fetched a giant net from a place where it had been happily hanging on its wall and bring it into my room and hang it on a wall that was very happily not supporting a net and serenely standing without any holes in it until you changed the arrangement."

Some people were confused and looked like they knew it. Still more looked like they understood that Ace was withholding a raging storm and, what was more, understood why. And some, including but not limited to Chopper, were missing what was happening altogether because they were busy trying to get their swimsuits to tie up properly.

"It was too quiet," Usopp offered.

"I see."

* * *

Sanji took a sip from the milk carton and then grit his teeth and forced himself to swallow it. He checked the expiration date. It claimed to be good for another week, but it was obviously lying. How the hell did one make white sauce with no milk? Didn't this town have any goods that didn't spoil after two days of storage? Or was the power to the refrigerator functioning as spastically as the lights? It wasn't terribly cold in there.

He threw the carton back in the fridge with an almost-growl and went to fetch his coat. If he had to go down the Hill he didn't want to wait for dark.

* * *

When an ensemble of half-naked, arguing Everlastings rounded the corner, pushing and shoving each other toward the far spiral staircase whilst hauling along with them a huge white net that several appeared to have gotten appendages stuck in, Luffy knew he has missed Something.

Jango's swim trucks with the big red heart on the butt were singed, as were Usopp's rubber ducky shorts and the flat and blackened beach ball whose remains were being carried by Kaku.

He smiled a little. Ace's last nerve had finally been found and stepped on.

Based on their appearance Luffy wondered if they hadn't intentionally been testing their limits-he half expected a clown car to zip out and follow behind them.

What came instead was a lagging Nami, looking defeated. She split away from the others as soon as she appeared and walked shamefully through her door with her head hung low. Luffy waited a suitable amount of time (substantial enough for the others to melee themselves down the spiral stairs with the net), and then went to check on her.

* * *

Kuina poked her head out the front door. The car was missing. So were Sanji and Zoro. It was so like them to take off when she needed to sulk at them, she thought as she stomped to the kitchen. Not that she cared. She was glad they were gone. They weren't even trying to find Syd. The West Wing could be dangerous and scary and he'd never been there before. What if he'd gone into it and gotten lost the night before? He could be hurt somewhere in this woeful house and nobody cared but her.

Kuina walked into the kitchen, turned off the stove that Sanji had stupidly left on again, and began opening and slamming drawers. She didn't want to walk all the way up to her room to equip herself for her hunt. She growled when the drawers came up empty, climbed on top of the counter, and began to search the cabinets. How could a house so big with so much furniture and such bad electrical surges not have… oh, there was one.

Sitting back on her heels, she pushed the button and slapped the flashlight into her palm a twice. It flickered on and she nodded decisively at it before hopping down off the counter and leaving the kitchen.

Sydian was in the West Wing-she was sure of it. She'd find him by herself, and then Zoro and Sanji would see how stupid they were being.

* * *

The garden was still the same garden it had been the night before, except now it was muddier and the sky was the slightest bit more bright.

Zoro stepped down from the balcony stairs and glared a challenge at the mud that tried to eat his shoe. The rain fell in thick, visible sheets that Zoro sloughed through, pushing the foliage out of his way and looking for anything out of the ordinary that he'd been missing. The garden was right in the center of the Hill, it was where all the gravestones were, it was the only place that the Dwellers couldn't go, it always felt cold and heavy when he was out there, and Zoro was positive the source of this whole mess was there!

When he got to an older-looking tree he stepped up on the roots and out of the mud. Fingers grazed the bark, looking for carvings all the way around and, upon finding none, he pushed away and made a face at the way his shoe sunk into the burial mud between two headstones. Then he frowned in resignation. Mud that didn't have bodies buried in it was only mud, after all.

He pulled his feet out of said mud and onto the nearest patch of pavement anyway, leaned against something firm and concrete to began judging his distance to the next nearest tree. The bench was conveniently near it, too.

He let go and glanced at the thing he'd been leaning against. Then he looked again and began to walk around it, looking at it better. It was one of the garden statues-one of a young girl with long hair. She looked young, but he definitely wasn't a cherub or anything so frilly. Another memorial, then. Except bigger and differently shaped from the others. But here was the intriguing part: there was a small black plaque that, upon closer inspection, had been inscribed. There was writing in this garden! He couldn't read it very well, but it was there. It didn't say anything unusual per the norm, but in this cemetery the existence of writing was amazing in itself.

Nefeltari Vivian

__

The angel that left us in the Autumn of 1918.

There was no date that he was able to discern through was falling rain, but there was a name. A name that confirmed Shanks' story; Vivi wasn't on this Hill, but she had been the first to disappear.

If all of this started with her then she had to have done something to cause it, right? Something terrible or accidental that first did something to her and set off a chain reaction of sorts. But what on earth could she possibly have done? What had happened that night in 1918?

He began circling it. As he was passing around a second time, looking up at the girl on the pillar to see anything odd, his fingers dipped into some groves on the pillar top and he stopped. They were full of water and perhaps an half and inch deep, but definitely letters. Not English letters, but Zoro was inclined to believe they meant something. He took several minutes to commit the foreign characters to memory before he trudged back through the mud to the balcony, hoping Luffy had returned to their bedchamber.

* * *

AN: This chapter is messy and all over the place. It kind of had to be, though it's not written so well. My narrator jumps styles a lot in this chapter. I've been reading Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it's infiltrated my Ace is looking for Something section. Sorry if it throws you. It was just a thing I had to do and now it's done. :)

I've gotten some useful feedback from you guys, and I want to thank you for that. I'm getting a lot of notes again about thoughts and such being cut out of the story. That's not me. That's the site. I have to fight for hours to individually get line-by-line itallic sentences in my chapters because the editor here won't load them. It's also been cutting out random periods and elipses, so that's fun. Please DO let me know when you see lines like ", he thought", because there's actually a thought that goes there, and if it didn't load, that means it's being stubborn and I have to manually type it into the box, which is fine, but I sometimes forget on some chapters, and i sometimes miss them.

Also, I'm not beta-ing this so much anymore because now that a publishing house full of editors is in contact with me and reccomending things right and left I just want my fanfiction to be my fun writing that doesn't need to be perfected and fussed over anymore. It's my break from professional writing, and I'm going to keep it that way.


	18. West Wing

**Homecoming Hill**

18

_West Wing_

Luffy walked through her door and up to her bed to take a seat beside her curled form.

"Nami?"

"You were wrong," she sniffled.

"Was I?"

"You thought he liked me special. You were wrong."

"Why?"

"He yelled at me. He yelled at all of us, but then he turned on me specifically and told me that I should have never let any of it happen and what was I thinking and did my IQ just drop sharply. God, I may as well have been no one to him."

Luffy looked around the room bewildered. "Okay… what?"

Nami wiped her eyes and sat up on the bed to face him. "There were a bunch of us in the rec room and some of us were getting restless about this tension with the West Wing-we told everyone about Crocodile on the steps with Zoro and Sanji and us and all of that-So Usopp gets this stupid idea that we should do something wild to make us forget and it was so stupid. So, so stupid, but I decided to go along with it anyway because I wanted to forget and just not think about it for a while. So we took down the net hanging in there and took it to Ace's room. Why did we take it to Ace's room? Good question. That idea was also really stupid. But we did it and everyone kept pitching in stupid ideas like that until we were all pretending that we were on a beach somewhere playing volley ball and wearing swimsuits and blasting music. So then Ace comes in and blows up and shouts and breaks things and doesn't care about anything else and then he just decides to pick me out of the crowd and start reprimanding me in front of everyone."

"Oh." He patted her leg. "He didn't single anyone else out, though, aye?"

"Right," she pouted.

"Then that's good. It means he depends on you a lot. You're like his deputy."

Nami glared at him.

"No really!" Luffy held up his hands and leaned back against the bedpost. "He counts on you, and he's probably really stressed out right now thinking about the West Wingers. He just needs more help leading."

"From me? Luffy, no one respects me like that. I don't have power like you and Ace have and I'm practically the youngest one here! Almost everyone else has been here for forty or fifty years while I've been here what, twenty? When they changed you two were the first ones they saw, and you taught them how to use their powers and about the starlight. You protected all of us voluntarily from day one, and they see you guys differently. You're in a separate light to them."

"Ace needs you," he insisted.

"Ace needs _you_," she countered. "You don't understand, he doesn't even really seeanything or anyone else in his house when you're near him."

"I'm his brother. He's stuck with me. Practically by accident of birth."

"Practically?"

Luffy moved the subject back. "But he chose you. He hasn't held a ceremony, no, but that doesn't mean he doesn't count on you and see you differently than the others."

He and Ace had never shared their past with anyone. Most knew they were adopted by Shanks, but they had never denied being blood brothers before. The way they'd found each other, and the things Ace had given up in order to raise him... They were brothers and neither wanted that called into question. Ace had spoken with him when they'd first been adopted, agreeing that they'd never tell anyone they weren't related by blood. They didn't want their closeness speculated over or put under a microscope, and, Luffy knew, Ace did not want his authority regarding Luffy called into question ever. He was willing to go along with this because he had never called Ace's authority over him into question himself. Ace was the only thing he'd always known. He had a few memories of what he called "before Ace", he remembered his mother and how she was sick, and something about a big man who would come demanding money from her. He remembered his mother not waking up, and that man getting angry and taking him away from their home, saying he'd get his money somehow, and being tossed to some street people who wanted him to beg for change every day and bring it back to them. But they beat him, and he ran away hungry. He ran for days hiding someplace new each night, until Ace walked into his hiding spot one day and got mad at him for being there, but shared his food, and then shared his bed. Then eventually shared his love. Ace was his constant, and no one needed to know that family titles were unofficial. Because it was real in heart, and their bond was solid as stone.

"He was like a postal worker that had been a torture victim of the Republican Guard during the Gulf War."

"Gulf War?"

"It was a thing that happened after you got here."

"So he overreacted a little."

"He was apocalyptic."

"Still…" Luffy shrugged. "Want me to go talk to him?"

"And say what?"

"Actually I was thinking I'd listen to him vent more than do any talking. I know he's mad-"

Nami snorted. "I'll say."

"-but I also know he likes you."

Nami laid back down and hugged her pillow stubbornly. "I sincerely doubt he wants to hear anything about me right now."

"I'll wait for him to calm down then."

Nami didn't answer.

Luffy swung his feet off the bed and walked over to her writing desk. Tan parchment noisily uncurled when Luffy smoothed it out beneath his fingertips and set Nami's four porcelain turtles on the corners.

"You've been mapping the house."

"The original blueprints are almost impossible to read," she grumbled from the bed. "I don't know how they got this place constructed."

"Hm."

The map was quite good. Excellent, even, Luffy thought.

"You should have been a cartographer."

"I was going to be."

Luffy let the subject fall to its bitter demise.

"What will you do if your new roommate comes in and sees this?"

"She won't. She's hunting for her dog. She'll be hunting for her dog all day. In fact, I'm going to have to put a force field around the room to keep her from escaping in the night to hunt for her dog."

"Very role-reversing."

"I think she's made it into something far too dramatic."

"So where is she?"

"I don't know. Somewhere around here."

Luffy frowned at her. "You're supposed to keep track of her."

Nami dwelled in her malaise and didn't answer, so Luffy halfheartedly laid down on the bed beside her and, like that morning, disconnected his consciousness to go off and look for Zoro's sister.

* * *

It was colder in the West Wing than in the rest of the house. Kuina suspected several of the windows to be broken. If they'd decided to call the electricity in the East Wing unreliable, then what was over here could only be described as desolated from all forms of feasible control. The word that came to Kuina's mind was 'haunted'.

The corridor lights turned on and off by themselves in odd bursts as though people were coming and going arbitrarily. All of the doors so far had been closed, but Kuina thought that perhaps the wind had blown them shut and Sydian could still have been trapped inside of one. That would be why he hadn't come back to her. It made sense.

She he had tried to go into the first doors she'd seen, but they'd been stuck. The fifth door she tried opened to reveal a weight room of some sort. Her flashlight bounced off the mirror across the room and made it appear huge and hollow. Her voice echoed through the room.

"Syd? Sydian."

Nothing. She continued to walk down the corridor and try more doors.

* * *

Luffy snapped back to his body and bolted to his feet on the bed.

"She's in the West Wing."

"What?" Nami's hair flew as she jerked around to look at him.

"We need to get Ace," he said, and jumped off the bed and toward the door with Nami in tow.

* * *

Zoro stuck his head into his room, but Luffy's presence wasn't there and he moved on to the next best spot to find him. He passed a few Everlastings in the hallways, all of whom looked like they wanted to try and stop him with conversation, and most of whom were wearing swimming clothes for some bizarre reason, but he felt like he was on to something and didn't want to stop, instead offering waves and quick "hello"s when he passed them by.

The door to Ace's room was open and as Zoro ran to it, voices spilled out into the corridor.

"-can't just go alone, Ace." Nami's voice said.

"I can move faster on my own. Any more than me and we can't go unnoticed!"

"Take someone strong with you!"

Zoro entered the room to behold Nami and Ace having an argument that resonated into the surrounding air, creating mists around both their ankles and those of Luffy, and an exquisitely tall man with a wild afro whom Zoro was surprised to have never seen before. It occurred to him then that perhaps the Everlastings he'd passed had tried to stop him for more than idle conversation.

"Nami," Ace hissed, obviously trying to keep his voice low all of a sudden, "We are on the verge of something huge with the West Wing, and if they find out I'm not over here, what do you think they might do?"

"They'll be too busy trying to get you out to come over-"

"Zoro!"

Everyone in the room turned sharply toward the door at Luffy's exclamation.

"Zoro," Nami breathed. She rubbed her arms nervously.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were talking about something important. I'll come back if-"

"Zoro," Ace interrupted, "your sister is in the West Wing."

"What? Are you sure? How do you know?"

"I'm going to get her now."

"Not alone!" Nami said.

"I'm going too," Zoro said.

Now it was Luffy that spoke up. "You can't! It's too dangerous."

"Ace is going," Zoro pointed out.

"Ace is Ace! You are you! You can't go!"

"Aye, Luffy's right, Zoro. Wait here," Ace said.

"She's my sister!"

"And I'm going to get her!"

"She can't even see you!"

"Oh, for the love of God," Nami groaned.

"The whole point of this excursion is to keep Outsiders out of the West Wing. Not to take more over to it."

"You can't stop me!" Zoro shouted.

"Wanna bet?" Ace challenged, making himself appear two feet taller.

"Take Luffy with you," Nami ordered.

Luffy backed up several feet. "Nay, Nami. No way am I going over there."

"Come on Luffy, make yourself useful."

But Luffy had backed into a corner muttering, "No way. No way. _No way_."

"Luffy needs to stay here and guard you guys."

Nami looked at Ace in a way that spoke volumes regarding how little confidence she had in his plan, and, having glanced at Luffy who looked like he was deciding whether or not to bolt through the wall, Zoro was inclined to agree with her. Luffy was barely willing to use his power to keep the fire in their bedchamber going at night.

"Then you'll be taking someone else," Nami ordained.

"Yeah," agreed Zoro. "Me."

"And I," put in the outrageously tall man, speaking for he first time, "shall come also."

"Oh, aye, you're stealthy," Ace said.

"I am," the tall man insisted. "I can be as quiet as the dead, but then I am dead, so that works for me. YOHOHOHOHOHO!"

_Is this guy for real?_ Zoro thought.

While the tall man laughed, the huge blue haired man in the Speedo selected that time to give away that he'd been eavesdropping (along with everybody else) from a short jaunt down the corridor.

"I'll come too, Ace."

Ace threw his arms in the air. "In what way are you any better than Brooke?"

"I don't tell those stupid jokes."

"And Brook doesn't burst into tears arbitrarily. Neither of you are coming."

"You can both follow him," Nami said, choosing to ignore Ace altogether.

"Nami!"

Ace's temper clashed comically with Nami's new-found air of nonchalance.

Zoro was sensing a vibe that they were upset with each other for some reason, and had the feeling he'd missed out on Something.

"I'm going over there," Zoro said.

"No, you're not."

But Zoro was through the door before it occurred to Ace to lock him inside.

Footsteps ran out the door behind him and soon the blue haired man and the one they called Brooke were flanking him on either side.

When they got close to the stairs after making all their turns through the corridors, Ace materialized in front of them and quite abruptly the three were suspended in the air, legs kicking out beneath them.

"Ace!" Zoro shouted.

"If we're all going over there then you need to listen up," Ace informed in the casual tone one might use to say 'the tree is next to the creek'.

The three in the air stopped struggling.

"First, we stay together. I don't know how things will be over there and I might have to fight, so Franky," Ace pointed to the blue haired man, "you'll need to guard Zoro at all times."

Franky nodded, overlooking Zoro's own chagrined expression.

"Super," he said.

"And Brooke," Ace continued, "will be helping me watch for West Wingers. I'll be focused on finding the girl's energy and I need a lookout. Zoro, you're job is to keep both yourself and her silent until we've all been restored to his wing. And I shouldn't have to say this, but no screaming or 'yohoho'ing or sobbing loudly or being clumsy. And running through the halls unless I say."

Franky groaned. "Are you honestly telling us this, Ace? We know it all, I promise."

"Humor me and think discretion, gentlemen."

The force that was suspending them whipped away and two of them landed on their feet leaving Brooke to haul himself off of the floor. Then Ace led them down the stairs and across the landing, and then up the stairs again and into the West Wing.

* * *

In his chambers, Crocodile smirked to himself. He'd been waiting. Tracing the Outsider girl's journey and waiting. He'd been waiting long enough to become frustrated about it, but inevitably the D. boy had come to play hero. And inevitably Luffy had not. So predictable.

He sat down in his high backed chair and overlooked the garden. The Zoro boy had been in it again that morning, focusing on the statue of the girl whom no one inside knew the name of. Poking and prodding where he had no right to be. The boy was a threat. A threat to his dystopia. A threat that would need to be disposed of as soon as possible. The East Wing attack would need to be reprioritized and moved up.

He would see Ace bow down before the week was out. And they would all be there when it happened. Then they would all see. They would see what a child D. was, and they would see the power of the Crocodile.

Moreover they would see that Monkey D. Luffy was no one to be afraid of. That the power they all hid from was controlled by a boy who was too destroyed to use it. They would see and then they would follow him. There would be no hesitation. He, Crocodile, was right. He'd been right all along, and under his leadership, they had defeated the D. brothers and reclaimed what had been theirs.

Then he would kill the Outsiders, and all Everlastings would all fall in line behind him.

* * *

To say that the corridors in the West Wing were uninviting would be far too passive.

The air was icy cold and quiet. Except for the glow of the three Everlastings drifting in a triangle around him, total darkness was all Zoro could see since, unlike the first time he'd walked this path, he didn't have a flashlight.

He felt like he should have been doing something, calling for Kuina or at the very least doing something that was more than the nothing he was doing now, but the air was still enough that, had she been within earshot, they'd have been able to hear her.

They moved swiftly and warily past closed doors. As they went deeper into the wing, noises began to pick up. From behind every few doors they passed Zoro could hear intermittent voices arguing, muttering, crying, or simply banging around. He was glad his sister couldn't hear any of it-she'd scream. In the cold dark the West Wing the noises were a gross affront to nature, and when they went upstairs Ace elected not to tell his companions that they had picked up a tail.

Zoro marveled at the state of disrepair and, in some places, rubble the wing was in. In the East Wing they cleaned up their messes and restored everything they destroyed. The West Wing clearly did not uphold such standards for their own living quarters. A few holes in the walls where broken sticks and plaster jutted dangerously into the hall had been created sporadically along the corridor of the second floor. Between tow bedchamber doors, which they weren't opening, part of the wall frame showed beyond where the plaster had been impacted into a human-sized crater. The floor creaked beneath his feet every time he placed them down, and then he was in the air floating a few inches above it. Zoro didn't know who was floating him, but he wished whoever it was would stop. He wanted the control to run if he had to.

"Anything?"

The whisper startled Zoro in the dark, and Brook gasped shrilly and clutched his chest.

"Shhh," Ace shushed. "No."

"Oh. Sorry," Franky whispered.

"Franky!" Brook scolded in a dramatic whisper. "You scared me to death! It was a short trip, but still…"

"Shut up," Ace hissed.

Then he stopped and turned around.

"She's gone," he said.

The others turned around as well, except for Zoro who was stuck facing forward.

"Who?"

"Our tail. She left. We need to move."

"Could you tell who it was, Ace?" Franky asked.

"Probably Aisa. It was before your arrival, Brooke. She's ten year old who came to this wing in the revolt of '69."

"The what?" Zoro asked.

"In 1969 a huge group of Everlastings left the East Wing to come here," Franky said distractedly.

"But if she's gone isn't that a good thing?"

"Why do you think she left, Brooke?"

"Probably to get…Oh," Brook said. "Right."

The three turned back around and started to run through the corridor, floating a hapless Zoro along with them.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked.

"I need to Disperse," Ace said, and did so.

"Will someone answer me, please?" Zoro said again.

"We were being followed and now we're not. Our tail went to tell the others." Franky informed as they ran.

"How long, do you think?" Brook asked through chattering teeth. "Before they come?"

"Not long." He slowed down and looked over at Brook. "What's the matter with you?"

Brook let out a wail. "I've never been over here before!"

"Then why did you come?"

"I wanted to be helpful."

"How's that working out for you?"

Ace Gathered between them and shoved them both back into motion.

"Focus, you two! I've found your sister. She's down the left corridor on this floor."

"Is she alright?" Zoro asked as whoever had been floating him set him down again.

"Aye, I think so. She's alone."

"No one else has found her? That's a stroke of luck," Brooke said.

Ace frowned. "Perhaps. I've sealed all the doors on this floor, so she can't walk in on anybody."

"Kuina," Zoro said as they rounded the corner, for indeed she was standing in a more kempt area of the hall where Ace had left her.

She turned toward him in alarm.

"Zoro! What… I was just looking for-"

"Sydian. I know. Do you realize how dangerous it could be over here? Why didn't you get Sanji to come with you?"

"Because neither of you were listening to me!"

"Can you be arguing in the East Wing instead?" Franky interjected.

"Right," Zoro answered, and grabbed Kuina's wrist. "We need to go."

"Wait, Zoro! What are you doing?" Kuina yanked her arm fruitlessly.

"Pick her up if you have to!" Franky said.

"I can't just-"

"Do it or I will," Ace said.

Zoro swore and got Kuina over his shoulder as she kicked and struggled.

"What are you doing? Put me down!" Kuina shouted. "Let me go!"

"Hold still," Zoro commanded as the group of five moved clumsily back into the right corridor.

"But we're here already-let's just look for Syd."

"He's not here."

"How do you know?"

"We need to be moving faster," Brook said fretfully.

"It doesn't matter anymore," Ace said.

"Why not?" Zoro asked.

"Who are you talking to?" Kuina said. She stopped kicking and tried to twist around to see if anyone else was with them.

"Because they won't let us go now," Ace answered.

"Zoro, what are you doing?"

Zoro shifted Kuina higher on his shoulder. "I think there's something here," he told her.

"What something?"

A loud banging sound fell through the ceiling and all five of them froze in place. Then the ceiling began to sink impossibly down at them like a worn spring mattress under a great boulder.

"Zoro, what was that sound?"

"Honestly, Sprite, I'm not sure," he said, lowering her to the floor.

She twisted around to watch the ceiling with wide eyes, unaware of the three Everlastings forming a triangle around the both of them. Zoro felt a tugging on his arm and looked down to see his sister clutching it like a vice. He glanced around at his friends and stopped on Ace, who was the only other person not staring at what was above them.

Zoro followed his glare and took a step backward. Five strangers were standing down the corridor, blocking the stairs. One of them started to walk forward when Ace didn't change his casual stance.

"Ace," said the approaching newcomer, a large man who was dressed up like a shaman from a B movie.

"Ener."

"How bout that boys," Ener said over his shoulder. "Aisa was right. Long time no see, Ace. Sightseeing?"

"And you can't imagine my disappointment," Ace answered in a discertingly calm voice.

The one called Ener smirked. "That's what happens when you invite yourself over to another person's home. Doesn't give us the chance to clean up."

"I suppose."

"But nevermind that for now, shall we? You've brought over some guests whom we've had yet to receive properly."

"Zoro, what is that?" Kuina whispered.

Her eyes were still on the ceiling.

Ener reached out with his arm in a mighty sweep and the ceiling sank lower. His groupies chuckled at Kuina's resulting cry.

Ace flicked his finger and put the ceiling back as it belonged.

Ener glared.

"I want to go now," Kuina whispered to her big brother, and tried to tug him toward the stairs.

Zoro grabbed her and pulled her back, eyes trained on Ener. "Not now. Now we have to stay very still."

"Why? Is the ceiling gonna cave in?" Kuina squinted and shined her light down the corridor. The West Wingers found this vaguely annoying.

While they were focused on Kuina, Franky stepped away from the pack and stretched his arm out in front of him, then some sort of force pushed him backwards like a cannon that had just fired a ball. Zoro had no idea what he'd just seen happen, but the scream that came from one of the West Wingers behind Ener told him that it had worked.

Everything became a flurry of motion when the wall Brooke was standing against exploded into the corridor on top of them. The West Wingers ran or flew forward, and Ace and Franky charged to meet them halfway. Zoro stayed low and held Kuina to himself. She was crying and trying to brush plaster and pieces of stick out of her hair, but she didn't look hurt.

The fight was unlike anything Zoro had ever seen. There was some grappling and throwing of each other here and there, but most of the wrestling was impossible to make out around the blasts of light and the fireballs being hurled through the air. Zoro ducked to avoid a propelled chunk of wall, and flinched at the sound of someone being projected into the floor.

"Behind you!" Brook shouted.

"Thanks," Franky hollered back.

Someone screamed.

Someone laughed.

Two little boys crawled out of the hole in the wall beside Zoro and Kuina and began to cheer on Ener, paying the Outsiders no mind at all.

Zoro looked back to the battle in time to see Brook stand perfectly still as two of the West Wingers flew at him from either side and then dropped simultaneously to the floor, screaming and clutching their legs. It was amazing to Zoro: Brook hadn't even moved. Except that he had. And he'd done it faster than the speed of sight.

Across the corridor from him, Franky got slashed in the back by a man who had turned his arm into a scythe.

That man then ran at Zoro and Kuina, but bounced back off a bubble that suddenly appeared around them. Zoro stood and picked up Kuina, who, unable to see or hear the surrounding commotion, clung to his neck and whimpered.

Growling, the man raised his scythe-like arm and sliced down through the bubble and into the neck of one of the little boys who had crawled through the wall. The other boy ran furiously at the man with the scythe, only to be grabbed back by Zoro before Brooke ran back from Franky's side and repeated whatever voodoo he'd done to the other two West Wingers.

The child collapsed next to his friend, who was flailing awkwardly around on the carpet. Out of his wound poured a liquid that glowed the same white-blue as the rest of their bodies. He watched in awe as the wound began to close right in front of him.

Brooke ran back to Franky's side and started to help him up. Zoro was torn between watching the boy on the floor with perverse fascination and going to help his companions.

Then Kuina pushed away from him and started to run to the staircase. Zoro caught her wrist and pulled her back, stooping down next to Brooke and Franky.

"Don't run, Sprite. You have to stay close to me, okay?"

"What's happening?" she shouted through her tears.

"The wing is all decomposed," he made up on the fly. "It's unstable and falling apart. If we run we might fall through the floor so we need to hope it settles soon."

Kuina nodded, and then pointed farther ahead. "Zoro, there's a fire!"

The three beside her looked up sharply.

Farther down the corridor, a door was burning to cinders on the hall carpet. Beyond that Ace and Ener were locking in a fight of flames and electricity bolts.

"It'll go out," Zoro said in a dumbfounded manner that he adopted in the shock of realizing Kuina could now see the same supernatural fire that moments ago she could not.

Brooke raised his hand and Ace's fire shrank into nonexistence.

Everyone looked beyond it to the fight still ongoing down the corridor. There was a lot of Dispersing and Gathering going on within the flames and the sparks. Ener had summoned a long golden pole with a sharp end from someplace and was using that to direct his lightning into Ace when the unfortunate Everlasting Gathered to physically attack. Ener's skin resembled that of a charred hotdog, but Ace was sporting a few impressive gashes himself.

Then Ace did something totally unexpected by those watching him down the hall, and apparently by Ener as well: he disappeared.

More accurately he stopped Gathering at all, and the fight became entirely one-sided.

Ener was blown clear through the wall and onto the floor on the other side, where a group of children scattered and ran screaming through their own walls and into different rooms. When Ener stepped back through the rubble, he looked scared for the first time. He sent a charge of electricity out around him in a short burst that did nothing. It was obvious he was running out of energy.

Then Zoro understood what was happening. Ace could attack while Dispersed, but Ener couldn't. Also, Ener's attacks had no effect unless the Everlasting he was attacking was Gathered.

"Why didn't he just do that earlier?" Franky asked from where he was lying on the floor. The wound that was bleeding liquid light from his back was closing itself up nicely.

That reminded Zoro of the boy, and he looked behind them to see that the child was still bleeding, though not badly, and that he was unconscious. His friend was dragging him back through the hole they had come from. Was this is what happened when injured Everlastings ran out of energy and starlight? They stopped healing and passed out?

"Attacking and being Dispersed at the same time uses more energy than Ace would care to admit," Brooke was saying.

"But if he was going to use it anyway-"

"He needed to get Ener to use up his power first," Zoro surprised all of them by saying. "If this uses up a lot of power, then Ace would need to be sure that it would finish Ener off. That way he doesn't have to do it twice if the first time doesn't work."

"Yes," Brook nodded. "Ener isn't weak. Until we can reach the starlight, Ace needs to reserve his power."

"Crap," Franky swore, sounding remarkably like Sanji. "Forgot about that…"

Kuina was standing very quietly. Her brother was talking to the hall around them. It wasn't making her feel very established in her understanding of the universe. She was looking at her brother when she caught a glimmer in the corner of her eye. She looked down the corridor past the smoldering door that looked oddly as though it had never been burning in the first place and saw nothing. Then a gleam flitted through the air beside her. A shimmer, long and formless and bluish.

She looked at Zoro and saw that he was not in fact, as he'd claimed, looking to see if the structure was sound enough to walk through. He was watching the glimmers and shimmers dance and bob around. Only he looked like he could see more than just that. Praying that Zoro knew something she didn't, Kuina continued to stand very quietly.

Then from down the corridor came a chill wind that frightened her. She stepped close to Zoro, who, like the other two, was entranced by what was happening in front of them.

Ener slowly rose into the air, still and helpless and trying to speak. Silver blood leaked from his mouth and eyes, and he choked on it from where he dangled above them all. A spiral of dark shapes began to wreath their way around his form; Long, flat, and broken sticks and plaster from the wall framing were rising gracefully from the floor and drifting almost delicately through the air to join others like them.

Then, when Ener was encircled enough for Ace's taste, all movement in the air stopped, and the leader of the East Wing Gathered not two meters away from the floating form.

Zoro wanted to look away, but he couldn't. Ace was doing this to protect him, to protect Kuina, to protect his little brother, to protect his entire wing-his family-from horrible pain and the fate suffered by those over here. Zoro respected him too much to look away. Even Kuina watched the two shimmers of Ace and Ener, and the floating swirl of debris, mesmerized.

Ace raised his arm, curled his fingers into a fist, and squeezed. The wet squelch of a hundred sharp pieces of the manor itself piercing and ripping deeply into living flesh was deafening to all present. Ener's body crumpled to the floor like a sack of leaky silver tomatoes, and Ace stood over it.

He wasn't dead. An Everlasting couldn't kill an Everlasting. But there was no spark of life visible to the naked eye.

Ace turned to the stairs, walking in silence. He stopped when he reached them, and waited.

Brook helped Franky to stand and then gave him a shoulder to lean on, and when Zoro picked Kuina up this time she didn't protest. The cluster of companions followed after Ace, none speaking a word.

When they got to the East Wing, Franky was propped against a wall where Ace inspected his wound without receiving protest. It wasn't so bad anymore. Most of it had healed up already, and it wasn't bleeding anymore.

"Okay," Ace said after giving it the once over. "How's your power? Do you feel tired?"

"A bit," Franky admitted. "I might not be much use to you for a while. I'm sorry, Ace."

"Don't be," Ace reprimanded. "You fought well. Thank you, Franky."

Franky shot him a thumbs up. Ace didn't seem to know what to do with that particular gesture.

"Brook?"

"Brook is fine," Brook said, waving him off and sitting down himself to catch a breather.

"Zoro?"

Zoro was performing a pseudo examination of his sister.

"Zoro?" Ace repeated.

Kuina looked straight at him, and he stepped back.

"I'm fine," Zoro said, running his hands along Kuina's arms, checking for cuts. He relaxed when he didn't find any.

"Can you hear them?" Kuina whispered.

Zoro looked up, startled.

She was looking right where the three Everlastings were Gathered against the wall.

"Kuina," he said in awe, "can you see them?"

Her answer was distracted and dazed. "I see glitter and light."

Ace walked up to her and squatted down. Kuina took a step back.

"Do you hear them, Zoro?" she asked again.

Zoro nodded.

"They whisper," she continued, as if in a trance. "They whisper, but I don't understand them."

She looked at her brother. "Do you understand them?"

"Yes."

"Are they nice?"

Zoro saw Nami running down the corridor toward them. He was disappointed not to see Luffy.

"The ones over in this wing are very nice. They've been watching over us."

"The ones over there weren't nice."

"No. That's the real reason we need to stay out of the West Wing. The bad ones are over there."

"Are they ghosts?"

Zoro looked at them for help. Brooke nodded and Ace shook his head.

"Sort of."

Kuina smiled a little. "Oh."

She looked at Ace's glimmer again. "Hello."

"Hello, Kuina," Ace answered gently. Zoro noticed that the corridor warmed up and began to smell of flowers.

Her smile grew and she blushed shyly. Then her smile faded into a somber expression, and then a whimper.

Ace looked like he had just broken a set of irreplaceable china and was looking around in a frantic panic to see if there was anything within arm's reach he could use to glue it back together with before anyone missed it.

"What's the matter, Sprite?"

"Do you think we'll ever see Sydian again?"

Zoro looked at her sadly and brushed an errant strand of hair behind her ear. Her eyes glistened as she searched his expression for some sign of hope and found none.

"I'm so sorry Sprite."

And then he pulled her into a hug, and she began to cry.


	19. The Girl in the Photographs

**Homecoming Hill**

19

_The Girl in the Photographs_

Sanji heard the front door slam shut behind him when he got home, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was quiet. It was usually quiet in the house, so that wasn't uncomfortable in itself, but it didn't feel still. It wasn't breezy, but the air was moving as if there was a soft and unsightly cyclone in the lobby, and Sanji had no idea what could be causing it. He felt like he was being watched in an empty room, and it made him shiver.

He forced himself to walk slowly with the heavy grocery bags, taking sure flat-footed steps that wouldn't send his wet shoes flying out from under him and land the rest of his body on hard marble with a smack. He assumed a normal pace upon reaching the carpeted hallway to the kitchen. This place was starting to plainly scare the hell out of him. Everyplace he went to on this Hill had started to feel increasingly dangerous, as if he were a knight that was belatedly figuring out that he'd not only meandered into a dragon's cave, but that he'd been approaching the nest for some time and there was no longer the promise of a safe return to the village. Oh, and he'd been assaulted in his own vines the night before when he'd been running through the black storm after their dog had forebodingly _vanished from existence on their property_! Couldn't forget that!

He wouldn't have been feeling so claustrophobic in this huge place if his cousin was still engaging him in regular arguments over nothing. Those were pain in the ass distractions from life that he was beginning to miss. But Zoro had evidently found something to engage all his time with, and Sanji didn't know what. History research? He'd stopped coming to dinner with any startling revelations or even progress of any kind, so whatever it was that he was doing was probably unrelated to the job they'd been sent to perform, and that only made Sanji feel more abandoned.

Was he completely alone here?

He blundered backwards through the swinging door so as not to drop anything and hefted the three bags that were partially blocking his vision onto the counter. His hands rested on the countertop for a second and he took a deep breath and let feeling return to his arms.

He was turning to put the milk in the fridge when he realized there was an angel standing in his kitchen. A beautiful angel with long legs and soft dark hair and a pale glow enwreathing its entire form in a holy manner that undoubtedly made other heavenly creatures cry.

And it appeared to be making coffee.

It also didn't act like it cared in the slightest that Sanji was in the same room as it.

The part of Sanji that was singing to him that he should have found religion years ago soon found itself in conflict with a nervous system response that kept him frozen and not breathing, because this angel, this woman, as beautiful as she was, was not supposed to be in his kitchen learning how to use his not-so-brand-new no-longer-quite-state-of-the-art espresso machine.

So he stood there, milk carton grafted to his hand, mouth open, eyes wide and beginning to dry out, staring at the woman who was watching dark fluid fill her mug. She knew he was there. She knew he could see her. He knew she knew he was watching her. But it wasn't until after she had put her cup on a saucer and replaced the filter that she turned around to face him.

She mouthed something that he couldn't hear, but had looked like 'thank you', and then took her drink in hand and pointed East with a beckoning wave before she walked through the wall.

Sanji continued to stand chiseled in place. He stood there until the scent of flowers that he'd begun associating with this kitchen had replaced that of the coffee, and then he decided to stand there some more.

After some undeterminable amount of time, a few words drifted through his mind. After some more time they began to assemble themselves in a pattern and he began to have thoughts. Shortly thereafter the thoughts began to make a certain kind of sense that was impossible to be true according to his world view. As he was no longer sure if world he was viewing anymore was the world he was used to living in, his old world view had to be abandoned for the blind unfamiliarity of not knowing where he was or what was there with him.

His lost thoughts scrambled to find solutions to his confusion. He was dead! Or perhaps not. He was dreaming! More comforting, but less probable since his foot still felt cold and drenched from when he'd stepped into that deep puddle in the drivepath.

Wishing he could remain in denial, but knowing it was hopeless, Sanji nodded his hat to the explanation that actually _explained._

There was a ghost living(?) on his Hill. Oh she was a beauty to be sure, but she was also a ghost and she wasn't by herself. To create the creepy feelings that had been spreading to increasingly more places and all felt so different Sanji guessed there had to be a lot of them, and not all of them were nice like the pretty coffee angel.

Now many of the things, both peculiar and bad, that had happened since he'd arrived made a ton of sense, and it meant his life was probably moving forward down a path where Bad Things would only continue happen and were likely to get worse. It also meant that he was trapped here for it because even though he wanted to go and even if he explained himself, which he didn't know how to do, Kuina wouldn't leave the dog and Zoro was obsessed with the history of this place and had been acting like an aloof moron _and _a nervous fruit at the same time (while either behaviour was not uncommon for him, he rarely entertained them both at once) since they'd arrived and he wouldn't want to pack his curious butt out of here.

Sanji continued to stare at the wall the coffee angel ghost had departed through, then his brain slapped him out of his stupor with a thought so abruptly that Sanji glanced around him as if trying to see what had shoved it in there.

_Could it be that Zoro knew?_

Sanji walked through the swinging door and then turned and came back with the milk carton he was still holding.

Sanji remembered the time he'd seen Zoro walking through the corridors looking for certain room like he had some business to see to inside of it, and those four times he'd walked right past Sanji's open door talking to himself boisterously and complete with elaborate hand gestures, and the few times he had been talking to either Sanji or Kuina and trailed off in midstream as if he'd heard some odd sound and was waiting to see if he'd hear it again, and the dozens (_dozens_!) of times he'd zoned out when around them, eyes always fixing themselves on points in space that sometimes drifted as if… _as if he was looking at someone that only he could see_, Sanji growled to himself.

He threw the milk at the refrigerator shelf where a miracle occurred and it didn't break open and begin to leak, but rather landed on the shelf and slid to the back. Similar abuse was given to the second carton of milk, a box of ice cream, two sticks of butter, a tin of Folgers coffee, and a bag of sugar. He tried to ax the counter in two with a loaf of bread before stomping out of the kitchen toward that special room all done up in dark blue.

* * *

While Zoro comforted Kuina, Ace pushed himself to his feet and turned addressed the corridor at large.

"We need to get prepared. Nami, if you wouldn't mind tracing down every person in the East Wing and get them assembled for an emergency meeting I'd appreciate it."

She nodded and Dispersed immediately.

"It was a stroke of luck that our wing wasn't attacked while we were gone," Brook said. "They knew we weren't here."

"Attacking while we were gone would have been foolhardy," Ace said, walking toward Luffy and Zoro's room. "It's not about luck, it's about Crocodile. Zoro's presence is a perfect opportunity for him. It's the motive he's been waiting for."

"But Zoro was right there. If they'd wanted him, they'd have taken him."

Ace held up a finger. "Unless Zoro isn't all they want. They want the East Wing, too, and Crocodile is using the combination of the two to get what he wants. He needs everyone to see us get crushed by him. Defeating us otherwise is useless. He won't concern himself about the space in our wing or with the fighting itself. His goal is to gain unquestioning power over the others. I'm sure it was his intention to let us come back here unscathed earlier. He's convincing them all to wait for a signal from him by promising to get both Zoro _and_ the East Wing at once. He wants to show off his skills as a leader, and all of them want to hurt us. The full power of their wing against the full power of ours, except Ener didn't agree to it."

In the next corridor over, frightened voices were gradually rising in volume from the Everlastings who were trickling into Ace's room from all over the East Wing.

Brook hugged himself. "It's really happening then."

Releasing Kuina, Zoro rose to his feet and followed Ace. Kuina followed along curiously and stopped in Luffy's doorway beside her brother.

"How did it go?" Luffy was asking. He did not turn from the glass slider.

"'Successfully and unfortunately," Ace answered. "We had to fight."

"With whom?"

"The Gods. Franky's been hurt. It's not bad, but he can't fight."

"Ener has always been brash."

"Aye, but his gang were the only ones we saw. 'Tisn't normal."

Luffy pressed his forehead to the glass and whispered. "Damn."

"Zoro, I don't feel good," Kuina whispered, tugging her brother's sleeve.

"Are you going to be sick?"

Inside the room, Ace had grown quiet and was watching the two of them.

She shook her head. "No. I just feel funny. Cold."

Zoro pushed her bangs back and felt her forehead.

"Hn. You're a little warm. You went through a lot over there. Why don't you go lay down for a little bit? I'll come get you for dinner if you're still sleeping."

"Kay." She rubbed her eyes and walked down the corridor to her room, closing the door behind her.

Zoro turned back to what was happening inside the room and Ace made eye contact with him. He held it for only a second, but Zoro was sure he glimpsed a spark of emotion in them before Ace turned back to Luffy. But that didn't make any sense. Why would Ace look at him in sorrow?

Across the room, Luffy shifted from foot to foot.

"I can't do this alone," Ace said. "They're coming Luffy."

Since the atmosphere was heavy and an important discussion was being eavesdropped on, and because his timing couldn't have been more inopportune, Sanji elected that moment to enter the East Wing and stride toward Zoro, one thumb hooked in his belt loop and the other hand digging for a cigarette in his shirt pocket.

"I hate the power in this crap house," Sanji announced. "The electricity is absurd and if the gas keeps starting up the pilot lights on the stove this whole damn place is going to raze to the ground while we're sleeping in it. Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to rewire this crap hole?"

"We'll work out a deal with a company," Zoro said automatically.

Sanji slowed to a stop beside Zoro, looking at the lights like they were not only alive, but had taken the last cookie from the jar and were trying to get away with it.

"Syd show up?"

"No."

"Hn," Sanji noised. "Figured not. Where's Kuina?"

"Bedroom." Zoro stepped away from the door. "She's finished with hunting for him. She knows he's gone."

"Gone?" Sanji raised a brow at Zoro. "Gone like dead? I thought you said he didn't turn up."

"He didn't."

"She's sorta jumping the gun, isn't she?"

"I don't know."

Sanji pulled a lighter from his pocket. "Well, you both must be privy to something I'm not then, because I didn't think anyone _knew_ he was gone."

"He's not coming back, Sanji."

Sanji struck up the lighter and paused to study his cousin. He lit the cigarette between his lips and flipped the lid shut.

"Want to know something strange?"

Zoro leaned against the wall and stared at the floor. "What's that?"

"That big bruise I had last night from when I got grabbed in the field? It's gone. Healed overnight."

Zoro looked up.

Sanji took a drag of smoke.

"I asked myself this morning if I should consider that I'd imagined it. Only is, I know I didn't. I also didn't imagine the woman in the kitchen a few minutes ago."

"Woman in the kitchen?" Zoro asked, rubbing his forehead.

"Is there anything you want to tell me. Zoro?"

Zoro met Sanji's eyes levelly the two looked at each other for some sort of sign that would tell them how much the other already knew. Finally Zoro sighed and pushed away from the wall.

"You brought some review texts to study over our break, right? So you don't forget things for when we go back?"

"You mean from school? A few of them," Sanji answered, vaguely bewildered. "Why?"

"What languages are reviewed in them?"

Sanji's mouth pantomimed a fish's for a moment before he answered, "Uh, Latin and Celtic for sure. Greek, Persian, Roman, Italian…umm…aw, hell, I don't know. Egyptian, Aramaic, Mesopotamian…possibly Martian…" he trailed off with a shrug. "I haven't read them all yet. Again, why?"

"I need to see them," he said as he strode past Sanji.

"They don't have much of any single language in them," Sanji called, using his long legs to keep up with Zoro's quick gait. "That's why they're called review texts."

"All I need are the alphabet charts," Zoro answered, entering the room and immediately needing to negotiate himself around one of Usopp's pieces of fandangle furniture. Sanji was left to shut the door.

"What are you doing?"

"I found something written down. I can't talk about it here, but I need to find out what language it's in."

"There are lots of things written down," Sanji flourished. "Who cares? You're stupid, so I'm just going to ask. How long have you known the Hill is haunted?"

"Not so loud," Zoro hissed. "And wait to talk about that until we've gone to town."

"Town? Zoro, why didn't you say anything about all this?"

"Because we can't."

"You can't," Sanji repeatedly sardonically. "What the hell does that mean? The crap-Hill covered in the ghosts of people that it's sucked up like cheerios and you can't talk about it?"

"Shh, Sanji, not so loud. There are certain things that can't be said, we can't talk about it here."

"The hell we can't! This isn't something you just put off for later."

"It can hear you," Zoro said slowly.

Sanji hushed instantly and looked around frantically as if for some monster that he expected to jump out of the wardrobe.

"…What can hear me? What is _It_?"

Zoro gestured to the room around them. "The walls have ears. We need to speak carefully."

But by the time Sanji looked back at Zoro he didn't look like he wanted say anything anymore.

"Let's go down to the deli and have dinner."

Sanji nodded slowly and the two quietly left the room and went to tell Kuina where they were going. She gave Zoro her order and they boys left for town.

"Is it okay to leave her here now?" Sanji asked over the sound of the wind on the way to the car.

"She might be getting sick. I don't want to bring her out in the storm," Zoro called back. "Don't worry, Sanji. She'll be safe in the East Wing. They'll protect her."

"So it's 'they' now, huh? We're leaving her with the ghosts."

Zoro didn't answer him.

Sanji snorted disbelievingly. "Well, I wish I had your confidence," he quipped.

* * *

The deli was closed when they got to town, and the shop they ended up at instead was one of the more modern attributes the town had gained over the decades; a shop named _Atlay's_ specializing in dishes, sauces, and desserts all made from tangerines grown from the owner's family orchard. It was small and had only two booths, but Zoro and Sanji had the dining area to themselves.

When they'd first walked in, the shop's proprietors, a woman named Nojiko (whom Sanji felt was far too pretty to be in her mid-fourties) and her two daughters (whom Sanji had desired to marry immediately), had been perfectly friendly, delightfully engaging, and refreshingly willing to talk about town gossip and give the boys an introduction to small town life while they prepared their orders (a fruity kind of tangerine fruit cake dish with a nice topping) and gave them old-fashioned sasperilla on the house. None of their regulars were willing to come out in such weather-there was a flood warning in town and most families in town were busy preparing for the worst. The three women themselves had been filling sandbags, for what little good it would do them.

But upon learning where the boys lived, the woman had shied her girls away into the back room, leaving Zoro and Sanji alone. The expressions of fear on the children's faces were of no surprise, but it was the reaction of the mother than made Sanji confused.

For a moment she had looked sad and had rubbed at the butterfly tattoos on her arms (which alone made her stand out from the rest of the town's inhabitants) before she'd gone in the back, not exactly looking like she wanted to. Sanji had wanted to bring it up to Zoro, but it had felt rude, so he didn't. But she wasn't like the others he'd met so far, and since Sanji was the one that so often came to town, he'd met his share.

Since then Zoro had spent a good twenty minutes regaling his cousin with details about everything he'd learned and everyone he'd met on the Hill, including the encounter with the violent psychopath, Ener, in the West Wing.

"So just to make sure I've got everything," Sanji said, "our property is haunted, but not exactly by ghosts because the dead squatters don't have unfinished business, and the rest are still alive. The Hill is alive and survives by figuratively digesting the life energy of individuals it randomly selects to suck into an alternate dimension. No one knows how it started, but the timing coincided with the forced and dreaded wedding date of the first person to disappear, and she isn't on the Hill like every other person who has disappeared. Most of them are insane," he paused to drink half of his sasperilla, "and there's a feud between the Everlastings in the two wings. Oh, and either Sydian is dead or he bolted from the property like any creature that could sense obvious danger around itself would."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Zoro affirmed.

"And you don't think we should leave." It was a statement, not a question.

"I can't. You can go if you want to. Take Kuina with you. But I can't leave things like this. I can't leave _them_ like this. They're people, Sanji. And they're putting their hopes into me."

"Must be miserable being you then-having everyone believe in you," Sanji drawled. "Not as miserable as being them, though. You're going to save the day how…?"

"I don't know yet. I've been hunting for signs to point me to what happened, and I've found a lot, but nothing that tells me how to remedy all of it. It's all there, though. The answer is on the Hill, I know it."

Sanji fell silent in thought, and Zoro looked at the TV mounted near the shop ceiling as the weatherman reported the forecast for the next four days. It seemed Hill Town was special because none of the neighboring cities were experiencing rain so heavy, and there was no end in sight.

Sanji downed the rest of his drink and slid the empty bottle away from him on the table. "You have to kill it," he said.

"What?"

"Well you said it was alive, right? So if you want to stop it for good, don't you have to kill it?"

Zoro contemplated that with a frown.

"But how can you kill a Hill? Drop a bomb on it?"

"No. It's supernatural, right? Have you thought about an exorcism?" Sanji asked dryly. "It's obviously paranormal. That's how people handle stuff like this, right?"

"It's not so simple."

"Isn't it? A thing is just an object or a body without a soul. Without a spirit we're just lumps of meat, and a Hill is just a hill. The spark gives it life. Take away the spark and there's nothing else. A typical hill only has nature's spirit in it, right?"

"I suppose," Zoro shrugged, hoping Sanji wasn't going off into his happy woodland boy routine.

"So if the hill itself had become unnatural, then whatever is else has merged with it is invading, like a kind of demonic possession. An exorcism could work, then, right?"

Zoro looked doubtful. "It'd have to be an awfully big exorcism. And the Hill sort of eats people, so I don't know how we'd be able to set something that major up without it stopping us first. Remember the rosary Syd found in the garden? Priests have tried before."

He tapped his finger on the table and continued to neglect his cake. "We could try it, but something tells me we'll only get one shot at taking this thing out, and I don't think it's the right answer. We don't even know what the Hill is yet."

"You said it could hear us, Zoro. That sounds pretty cut and dry to me."

"It didn't just randomly wake up and start vanishing people. Something happened to cause it."

"Zoro, the place is twisted. People disappear here and no one ever sees them again. People who come here die! There are a bunch of dead people running around and the garden's full of the graves of the people that are all running around. _Why_ does it matter how it broke? All we need to do is fix it."

"It's not like a shattered vase, Sanji. But if I know what caused it to wake up I might be able to do something to cause it to go to sleep again."

"You want to make it dormant?"

"I _want_ to make it _leave_."

"An exorcism will make it leave."

"And how can be sure that we won't just exorcize everyone up there with it? Some of those people are still alive, Sanji."

"Oh yeah," Sanji said.

"Yeah," Zoro said, bringing his finger down on the table as if making a point. "In lieu of killing everyone I'll settle for dormancy."

"Okay. Exorcism's off the table." Sanji crumpled up the saran wrap his cake had come with. "Something else, then. Crap-hill."

Zoro leaned back in his chair. It felt good to have Sanji to muddle over thing with again. Zoro hadn't realized how much he'd missed it, but it had been damn hard figuring it all out alone.

"Hey, what do you need language charts for?"

Zoro's chair legs slammed down as he sat up again, eyes wide, making Sanji jump. "Oh, yeah. The language thing. Sanji!"

"Still here," Sanji said, shaking his head like he thought Zoro was insane.

I found something in the garden."

Sanji made a face. "Ugh. That place."

"I think it's an inscription or something, but it's not employing roman characters. It's some alphabet, I'm sure, but it's not common."

"Or it's skeptoma and you're seeing something that isn't there. Are you sure it's writing and you're not looking too hard?"

"I don't think so," Zoro said thoughtfully. He slid a napkin in front of him and snatched a pen from Sanji's shirt pocket and started writing it down. "It's hard to tell because it's more chiseled than written," he said, passing it to Sanji, "but it looks familiar to me. Like déjà vu."

Sanji leaned over to see it, but nothing struck him about it. "I don't recognize it. A dead language, perhaps?" he said around a mouthful of bread. "Or a code?"

"A code?" Zoro repeated. "Doesn't seem likely, but I guess it's not impossible."

Sanji popped the last of his cake into his mouth and look at Zoro's pointedly.

"You planning on eating that?"

"Huh? Oh, no, go ahead."

"That's not what I meant." Sanji shoved the offered meal back to Zoro. "You need to eat. You can't think if you don't eat."

"Maybe later."

"Definitely later."

"Fine."

Sanji rose to his feet.

"We should get back. I don't care how nice the ghost people are, she shouldn't be alone up there. And we have dinner for her."

Zoro was surprised. "Does this mean you're staying?"

Sanji shrugged casually. "Have to, don't I? There are people counting on you and I can't leave you here by yourself because you're an idiot and you'll get yourself killed the second I leave." He rolled his eyes.

Zoro snorted at him. "Thanks, Sanji."

"Yeah," he muttered, reaching for his shirt pocket. When Zoro didn't move, Sanji threw his arms out in exasperation. "Let's move it, you sentimental crap-head. The sun's setting and we still have books to look at."

He stuffed Zoro's food into the plastic to go bag with Kuina's. Zoro strode out behind him.

"Mind if I smoke on the way back up there?"

"_I_ don't care if you burst into flames," Zoro drawled.

Once the door to the shop had fallen shut, Nojiko's daughters came back out to watch them drive off.

The younger of the girls looked at her sister. "Did you hear what they were saying?"

"They're inane. Or very imaginative."

"But wouldn't that be incredible if it were true?"

"Scary, you mean. I still don't believe anything anyone in this town says! No one will even talk about that place."

"Yeah, because they think it's haunted. Legends are founded in truth, Caitlin."

Caitlin rolled her eyes. "You're so weird."

"I'm not!"

"Leah, you need to outgrow this. You're fifteen years old. When you go away to college you won't be able to talk like this anymore."

"Everyone in town knows Homecoming Hill is haunted!"

"Yeah, well, you people don't get out much."

Leah dug her scooper into the sand barrel. "History shows it. People keep disappearing up there. Anyway, you grew up with dad in Washington, so what do you know about life in Hill Town anyway?"

"Hill Town has no life!" Caitlin threw her arms wide. "Every damn place closes by eight p.m.-even the pub, which is sacrilege however you look at it. Hell, you people see the sun setting and act like an air raid is approaching from the sea. On my campus, life doesn't even _start_ until sundown."

"Why do you think we go to those extremes, Caitlin?"

"Because everyone in this town belongs in an asylum."

"Or because we all know something that you don't. You haven't been here when things have happened. You haven't seen things. You don't know."

Caitlin sighed in exasperation and dropped her scooper. "Leah, Mom used to live there. Has she ever said there were ghosts there? No. Because there aren't any. Besides, who would keep living here if they suspected that dead people were running around?"

"I don't know…Maybe she has a reason."

Caitlin shrugged and the two looked in the corner where her mother was sitting on a barrel and staring at the pictures on the wall.

Nojiko had lived in Hill Town for decades and, despite having one resided on Homecoming Hill itself, she had been accepted by the town as family when she'd purchased a place of her own there because, she told her daughters, she shared many beliefs in common with the locals.

She had never spoken of her time living on the Hill, but she often looked at the photographs that their family had taken on it. In addition to either of their deceased grandparents, the photos all contained a pretty young girl with red hair and an intelligent look on her face. Nojiko and the girl sitting in a garden swing together. Another of the redheaded girl in a room covered in maps, sitting at a huge drawing desk holding a pencil and a ruler. Yet another of the two girl harvesting tangerines together. But no matter how many times the girls had asked about her, their mother had never told them who the girl was.


	20. The Shape in the Stones

**Homecoming Hill**

20

_The Shape in the Stones_

A man was standing at their front door. Sanji shut off the car and looked at Zoro, but Zoro hadn't seen the man standing at the door yet and didn't look like he was about to either, because his seatbelt was stuck and he was further jamming it in the buckle in his attempts to free himself.

Sanji looked back out the windshield.

Was the man a Dweller? Zoro had called the outside ghosts Dwellers, but he hadn't mentioned any by name. Did this man know them? Would it be more rude to get out and introduce himself, or to pretend he wasn't there and let Zoro introduce them?

__

Crap-protocol. Do dead people even practice manners, or are they do whatever they want and laugh when the living people blame other living people for the unexpected messes they make?

He decided to wait because he didn't want to just walk up to a stranger that he could see through in the rain. He felt that would be impossible for him even if the strange ghost man didn't have a scared face and dress like an opera house phantom. He was holding a little girl with curly pig tails who couldn't have been more than four, she was so small. But Sanji was more wary about her than the creepy caped man. The way he saw it, if there were children trapped in the hole God forgot, then they had to be hellions.

"Got it," Zoro triumphed, tossing the belt to wind up on its own and climbing out of the car.

Sanji tried to make his own walk look like a cool and even stride. The cigarette between his lips had gone out in the rain.

"Zoro!" the ghost-man-Dweller-being sang out jovially.

"Shanks!" Zoro called right back jogging forward.

"What the hell?" Sanji tacked on for the sake of both punctuation and because he didn't want to be forgotten and it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey, the lanky one can see us now!" Shanks sang again.

"Yeah," Zoro said, standing between them in a somewhat customary introductory position. "Sanji, Shanks. Shanks, Sanji."

Sanji looked from Shanks to his hand like he didn't think sticking it out there would be a great idea. Shanks' eyes adopted a teasing glint.

"Who's this?" Zoro asked, smiling at the little girl.

"Who, this little escapee?" Shanks said, boosting the girl higher on his hip. "This is Amber-Lynn. She's a newer addition to our big, awkward family. She's supposed to be with her group of children-we put them in groups when there's a storm-but she ran around the corner a minute ago, so I guess she got split up."

Amber-Lynn smiled and hid her face in Shanks' mantle.

"Hey, listen, I know you want to get inside, so I'll try to make it fast," Shanks said over the call of the wind. "I've been waiting for you because things are starting to feel a tad peculiar out here and I really need to know what's going on inside right now."

"What do you mean 'peculiar'? It's felt like the ground might open and swallow me since I got here. I figured that was normal for this dot on the map."

"Can we move this under the roof, please?" Sanji bellowed, pointing at the front steps without taking his hands from his coat pockets. "I can't feel my feet."

"Aye!" Shanks agreed.

The wind and rain abruptly stopped beating them whilst redoubling all around them and several feet away.

"Or that'll work, too," Sanji said, looking positively unnerved.

With the wind no longer carrying their voices, they were able to speak in normal tones.

"It's not that the regular feeling isn't abnormal," Shanks resumed. "Especially to you, I'd imagine. But the energy flow in our plane isn't acting in the same abnormal way it usually does. It's been getting…errr…" He made warbling, jerky, swaying motions with his hands and fingers, looking distractedly to the side in case his AWOL vocabulary word was floating in the fountain.

In his arms, Amber-Lynn attempted to duplicate his autistic-like gestures and then giggled.

Sanji shot Zoro a pointedly dry Look as if the fact that Shanks was on the property at all was entirely his fault.

Zoro shrugged unhelpfully in Shanks' direction and offered words. "Messy? funky? Blurry? …Wonky?"

Shanks looked at Zoro with a snort. "Wonky? That's new. Wonky. …Aye, let's go with that." He nodded decisively.

Now Sanji's Look changed to: 'do you remember when we first got here and I thought the place was creepy and suggested we all stay away from weird morbid things like dead people in the yard and you fell in love with the place anyway and went hunting for trouble to pass your time with and managed to scrounge up a friend base comprised of the strangest lunatics in Oregon when you should have been working on financial estimates with me so that we wouldn't be standing in a typhoon wannabe with this particular insane individual whom even ancient British vernacular is lost on? I'll bet you're wishing you'd listened to me now, aren't you?' because seriously, when he was trying to prove a point without stating the obvious, Sanji's Looks could be downright verbose.

"That's why I want to know," Shanks said, cutting Sanji's expression-only lecture, "if you've noticed anything happening on the Hill in the last day that's struck you as even slightly abnormal?"

Sanji stared at the cape-wearing, transparent ghost-man who was telekinetically blocking the rain in their courtyard. "…Words fail me."

"War."

Three sets of eyes focused on Zoro.

"I mean," Zoro said, taking a step backwards, "I don't know if that would make everything strange out here, but inside everyone's getting ready for a fight that Ace suspects is going to be some kind of no-hands-barred, anything goes battle."

"A battle? Over what?" Shanks asked.

"A whole bunch of things, and I only know a couple of them, of which none are really important."

"They's fighting inside?" Amber-Lynn asked in a strong baby-lisp.

Shanks bounced her and brushed her bangs away from her eyes.

"You know what, honey? Judy's probably been really worried about you since you wandered away from her. You want to go tell her you're all right, aye?"

"No," the tot said simply, playing purposefully with her blue coverall strap.

"There's war now?" Sanji asked Zoro, content to let the Dwellers squabble like a father and daughter over bedtime. "You didn't say anything about a war. You made it sound like the two wings always fought."

"I did, I mean, they do, but this is different."

"Different, how?" Sanji's voice had an edge to it now.

"Amber-Lynn…" Shanks was saying.

"It's raining and the bandishded are out," Amber-Lynn whined.

Sanji poked Zoro's shoulder and Zoro waved him off.

"The Banished aren't out, they're were they usually are. They won't come here."

"Them did yesserday!"

Shanks' shoulders dropped. "Aye…"

"Banished?" Sanji asked, sounding even more unnerved.

Shanks offered a half-shrug. "Some people are made to create trouble. We don't have many rules because we all live like a family and get along pretty well making the best of hell, but some people have never adjusted. They're supposed to stay out beyond the tree line where they can do whatever the heck they want, and they're fine with that, but some started coming around a couple days ago when the stones out there started glowing."

"The what now?" Zoro said, stepping forward.

Shanks stopped talking and considered the boys.

"We don't really know what they are or what they're for. Just that they've been out there forever and we can't touch them. That's it."

"You didn't know about this?" Sanji asked Zoro.

Zoro looked baffled. "I've never heard about glowing anything! I still don't even know what we're talking about, exa-"

"Just be quiet for a minute," Shanks spoke over him.

Everyone looked at him. Amber-Lynn snuggled closer to Shanks. Shanks looked from the boys to her and then back to the boys. Rain pattered on the cobblestone around them. The fountain continued to overflow steadily, birthing a trickle that ran out of the courtyard and into the backyard.

A light came on in an upstairs window of the house. Seconds passed. It went out again.

Shanks began to speak slowly. "How brave are you two?"

"That's not a question I've ever wanted to hear," Sanji said to Zoro, pointing at Shanks like he was a talking macaw that was using colorful and inappropriate vocabulary, and Zoro could tell that Shanks was a little annoyed by it, but he guessed it wasn't enough for the Dweller to fight over. It must have been a trait with the D. family; both the possession of power _and_ the temperance to not abuse it.

"I'll do whatever I have to," Zoro answered.

"Aye, then," Shanks said. "There's something you'll want to see… that I can't tell you about, because even if I would be allowed, I can't describe it-" Zoro and Sanji looked at each other, Zoro with a grin "-but if you're willing to take a walk with me, I can try to take you there."

"Let's go," Zoro nodded.

"Waoh, waoh, woah!" Sanji threw up his hands. "Where is this thing? Through the vines? Because I've gotta tell you I don't want to run through them again. Someone tried to rip my arm off last night and the storm hasn't slacked up any."

"No one ripped your arm off," Zoro reminded. "You're just weak and measly."

"Shut up! They did so!"

"It's past the treeline out back," Shanks informed. "I won't tell you it'll be easy, because it won't. But you were on your own last night. That alone will make this a little different. I'm not counting on being your only backup."

"Sanji, come on."

"I thought you'd be eager to do something like this," Shanks said to Sanji's general direction. "You've done nothing but go where I've told you not to since we met."

"That was him!" shrieked Sanji, pointing to Zoro.

"If you're coming, we're going."

Shanks turned and walked off, carrying Amber-Lynn and his bubble of dryness with him.

Zoro gave Sanji one last shrug and followed Shanks around the side of the manor. They stayed up against the house until Zoro recognized the path through the vines that would lead to the creek, and Shanks split away and he had to stumble down the hill into the vines to keep him in sight.

The bubble extended back to him again and Shanks paused to let him catch up, and then Sanji splashed into the muddy bed of vines a minute later.

__

"Stay close together, and if you need to say something, think it at me. I'll hear it that way."

Zoro caught Sanji's surprise out of the corner of his eyes and nodded for them both. He'd forgotten to mention the telepathy to Sanji at dinner.

"_We need to make a stop at the creek_," said Shanks, detouring.

A minute later the vines spread apart to reveal a surreal gathering of supernatural beings milling about the water's rising edge and trying to avoid getting smacked by wind-whipped vines. Tens of hopeless adults who had been aged and pained by the decades of exposure held crying children that screamed for their parents and other relatives long gone. People stuck in summer wear shivered in the cold, afraid to use up all their power staying warm and dry. Some slept (actually slept) in the drowning patches of grass beside the bank.

He had been so naïve playing Frisbee in the front yard so long ago to believe that the Dwellers were as happy and peaceful as they'd looked. It felt like a punch in the gut that winded him completely, and all his concern for the suffering of the people inside felt like nothing in comparison.

"Amber-Lynn!"

A round, haggard woman who looked like she had probably had a big smile and rosy cheeks once upon a time came panting up to Shanks and reached for the girl in his arms.

"Oh, I've been looking everywhere," she said placing a hand on Shanks' arm. "Thank you Shanks. Where was she?"

"She didn't mean to scare you, Judy. She got lost and did just what she was supposed to. She got out of the vines, joined up with the first grown up she found and stayed with me until I got her back here."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"Is he talking to someone?" Sanji asked, leaning close to Zoro.

Zoro twisted around. "Can't you see her?"

"I see some people, lots of kids, but no one near Shanks." Sanji looked out over the Dwellers. "It's quiet. They almost all look like they're talking or crying or making some sort of noise, but I only hear a couple of them, and the places where I do hear talking, I can't see anything there."

"You saw Amber-Lynn, right?"

"Yeah."

"Could you hear her?"

"When? She never said anything."

Zoro almost laughed. It wasn't that he found Sanji funny, but it was such a strange situation.

"She talked, actually."

"She did?" Then understanding dawned. "Aw, crap. Then how many people do you see?"

Zoro leaned out of the vines and looked closer.

"Forty, maybe fifty all the way down to the bend in the creek. I can't count them."

"I see twelve."

Zoro snorted and again tried not to laugh. "Well, that's more than you could see an hour ago."

Sanji glared at him. "We're gonna go pioneering out across the vineyard in a couple minutes and I can't even see if I'm surrounded and about to run into someone."

"Neither can I in the vines. So stick close to Shanks. You know how I mentioned Luffy and Ace?"

"Are those the two strong ones inside the house who've been watching out for us?"

Zoro nodded towards Shanks, who'd tilted his own head back to overhear. "Shanks is their father, and he's just as strong."

Sanji's posture didn't relax as much as Zoro had hoped it would. He'd need to introduce Sanji to the D. brothers.

"What are you doing, Shanks?" a new voice said.

The man with the penetrating stare that Zoro had seen only from a distance before walked cooly out of the vines several yards away and approached them, eyes sharp. Zoro tried not to cringe. Sanji didn't, but he had reacted visibly to so many things by that point that people had stopped noticing.

"Mihawk! I was looking for you."

"Why?"

Mihawk's speech was as sharp and direct as his gaze, but the intimidating aura was either lost on Shanks or went completely ignored.

"I'm taking my friends here for a stroll. I was hoping you might like to join us."

Mihawk's brow raised and left skepticism all over his face. "You think this to be a wise decision?"

"Absolutely not," Shanks said confidently.

Mihawk sized Zoro and Sanji up, his expression never changing.

"As long as you're sure," Mihawk said, finally.

Zoro wondered if he had missed a private telepathic conversation that had happened right in front of him. He half hoped that he had, because otherwise it meant Mihawk's scary detachment was more than an act.

"Shall we, then?" said Shanks, and pushed back into the vines.

Mihawk trailed close behind them so Zoro stuck close to Shanks near the front. Sanji didn't seem to be able to see Mihawk, but Zoro could tell he'd heard him, even if he wasn't saying anything about it.

Since the atmosphere was foreboding and creepy and totally inappropriate for it, Shanks started making small talk.

_"You know, you never answered my question,"_ he stated, projecting the comment to all of them.

"What?" Zoro shouted back.

_"About what it is they're fighting over inside the house. And you don't need to shout. We can all hear you fine if you throw your thoughts."_

_"Oh," _he thought. _"Sorry."_

_"I'm curious about that, too," _Sanji's voice appeared in his head.

_"About the war thing, I mean. You said they fought all the time."_

_"They do, Sanji, I'll explain later."_

He turned back to Shanks. Sanji elected to act nonpartisan and listen closely.

_"I know they're fighting over space. The West Wing wants to take back the East Wing where Ace is protecting weaker residents and that's the story they're all sticking with, but I think it actually has something to do with us being here and something that happened a long time ago, in 1969."_

_"1969?"_ Shanks stopped and looked at Zoro.

_"…Yeah. Something happened, and Luffy was involved and no one will talk about it, but it's got the West Wingers livid now that we're here-" _he indicated toward Sanji _"-because whatever happened seems to have involved an Outsider before, and it was really bad."_

Shanks and Mihawk looked at each other, then kept walking. Sanji looked at Zoro, who shrugged, and they moved along as well.

_"It might be about some sort of power that Luffy has,"_ Zoro picked up again. _"I have no idea what it is, but it's kept everyone inside in check until now. If they're rising up anyway after all this time it tells me that it's not just over space like Ace keeps insisting."_

"_Why is it only Luffy's power_?" Shanks asked. "_I thought Ace was strong, too_."

Zoro pushed forward to walk beside Shanks when the vines spread wider apart. _"He is, I know! It's strange isn't it? But there's some power that only Luffy has, and it makes him the strongest person inside. I've been trying to figure out what it could be, but they aren't dropping any clues. I think he can hurt the others in some way that's really painful or something." _

When Mihawk spoke his voice was low and smooth in their minds. _"This fails to add up with what you've told me, Shanks. Was not Luffy the one who was dying?"_

Zoro turned around to face Mihawk.

"What?"

Shanks didn't slow down.

_"Luffy's fine,"_ Zoro pursued._ "I mean, he's miserable and sad, but he's not dying. He's okay."_

_"You've noticed by now, of course, that we don't age,"_ thought Mihawk._ "When we entered our plane, diseases and injuries were frozen in time like the rest of our bodies. We think. Anyone would appear healthy. Even if-"_

"Hawkeye!"

Ahead of them Shanks had spun around and was glaring. "When you open your mouth you gamble your life. This isn't a child's game."

Mihawk grinned challengingly, but started moving again without a word, passing Zoro and Sanji up.

Zoro tried to wrap his mind around what he'd heard, but couldn't and scrambled to catch up with them. "But, wait!"

"_We're almost there_," Shanks thought at them. "_Keep your eyes open."_

Sanji squeezed Zoro's shoulder and pushed him to keep him moving. "We'll worry about it later," he called through the wind.

Zoro nodded, having no choice, but he couldn't not think about it.

__

Dying… Frozen in time…What happens if I unfreeze him?

The hope that had filled him upon discovering that Luffy was alive was what had initially driven him so hard to play hero. He had convinced himself that somehow he and Luffy were connected. It was all to perfect to be chance. Zoro had never really wanted to be close to anyone outside of his family before, but something about Luffy just…attracted him. He couldn't…_didn't want _to lose him now.

__

I'm so stupid. I'm so damn naïve! No wonder Luffy wants to believe in happy endings so badly. …no wonder he doesn't anymore.

The quartet made their way carefully to the opposite edge of the vines. A muddy pathway for horses and old farming equipment was all that stood between them and the tall trees on the other side. The grass beneath the maple trees was tall and sparsely dotted with pink flowers that the rain hadn't been able to beat down through the protection of the branches. Beyond the trees Zoro could make out the upper branches of a few old and twisted oaks, and he thought he could faintly hear the sound of another (or the same?) rushing creek, but it was impossible to be sure with the falling drops smacking the leaves all around them.

_"Aye now,"_ Shanks' voice rang through their minds again as he looked around warily. _"It looks clear."_

He turned around and crouched below the swinging vine tops where the wind didn't whip his cape out and they were better concealed.

_"We're going to cross here. When you get just behind the trees the land drops sharply. It's almost cliff-like in some areas, so don't panic when you lift off the ground, all right?"_

He looked specifically at Sanji.

_"I won't drop you. It's safer if you don't try to climb it in the rain, though. A lot of 'Dwellers' as you call us are here because they slipped and took a tumble. You're no good to anyone dead, agreed?"_

Zoro nodded.

_"Agreed_," said Sanji.

_"After that it's just a jog to what you want to see. No one will probably come by, and if they do I doubt they'll stay, but if you see or feel anything, speak up."_

They turned back to the trees and rose to their feet again. Then Mihawk crossed quickly without warning, leaving the others to get their kiesters in gear and follow him. The Dwellers both vanished abruptly from sight when they got to the trees and reappeared at the bottom of the abrupt drop that looked too man-made to be natural. Roots and boulders stuck out of the twenty foot wall of earth in front of them that had an identical twin a hundred feet away, betraying the fact that the miniature canyon between them had not been there a century before. It had, however, been there long enough for oak trees to take root and gain forty feet of height. And there was a creek running through the near middle of it.

Zoro and Sanji had only seconds to take all these details in before they found themselves dangling in the air above it all. A funny feeling rolled up in their stomachs as they descended to the earth below, and Sanji let out a yelp similar to those that Zoro had made in the past upon being supernaturally manipulated.

As soon as they touched the ground it was as if the entire atmosphere of the backyard changed. It felt different. It wasn't colder or quieter or anything else so obvious, but their skin prickled and their breaths caught nonetheless. It was ominous sixth sense sort of feeling, and Zoro couldn't help but feel like there was something down there with them, stalking them like a hungry wild animal.

"_This way_," Shanks said.

It was not a long trip. Indeed, they only followed him for all of thirty feet before a feint blue light whose very out-of-placeness on the forest floor demanded their attention.

They all stopped several feet away from it before Zoro pushed a little closer.

_"What are they?"_

_"Rocks,"_ Shanks answered._ "Rocks that usually seem perfectly normal to the average person except for the weird feeling they emanate. We can't get near them without feeling sick, so we don't."_

Zoro was feeling nauseous himself, and his body cramped up painfully when he reached out to touch them. So much so that he had to pull back and step away again. It wasn't until he was standing taller that he could see that the stones were placed in some sort of intentional shape, and he squinted and tilted his head, trying to make it out.

_"Why are they glowing? Are they supposed to do that?"_ asked Sanji.

Shanks shrugged.

_"They don't usually look like this. We don't know why they started glowing. Nothing's changed out here as far as we know."_

Zoro was disconnected from the talk, bobbing around looking at the shape like a curious but cautious raccoon.

"Has it ever happened before?" Sanji asked out loud.

_"Once about forty years ago. It only lasted four days."_

"In 1969?" Zoro asked, turning to look at them again.

Shanks folded his arms. _"Aye. The same year you marked earlier."_

_"So…Are you saying that whatever happened back then is happening again?"_

_"I'm not saying anything,"_ Shanks denied. "_I'm just making a guess based on what you said. It fits, though, doesn't it? Around the same time this thing lit up and started feeling more evil than usual, something big happened inside the house? And now after all these years it's lit up again just when that past event is being dredged up and fought over. I don't mean to be a rumor starter, but the timing is too convenient. Why would they decide to fight about it now? The only reason I can think that they'd warrant fighting over something that happened so long ago is if it's happening again. I don't know what it's like inside, and I know I'm piecing this on the fly, but it all falls together awfully well, and this,"_ he indicated the blue stones, _"isn't dissuasive."_

Mihawk looked at the stones impassively.

"_What is it supposed to be?"_ Sanji asked.

_"As far as I can tell it's some kind of animal. A wolf, or a bear, maybe? It doesn't really look as much like a bear, though."_

_"Could it be a jackal?"_ Sanji asked. _"They're associated with all sorts of bad things."_

_"Could be,"_ Zoro agreed. _"It's hard to be sure. It's partially buried."_

_"It seems possible,"_ Mihawk said._ "It's an insanity magnet."_

"What?"

Mihawk crossed his arms._ "When drunks wander up onto the Hill, they head straight for it. Well, as straightly as a drunk can go anywhere. It used to happen a lot, before I started posting guards. Also we didn't decide where the Banished would be banished to-they did. I don't think they realize their attraction to it, but they chose this half of the vineyard. Sane people that come up here avoid it, especially the children. They're afraid."_

Zoro stepped back from the blue animal shape to stand with the others.

Sanji pulled out a cigarette, quickly lighting it in the rain. Water wouldn't stop him-he needed to smoke, dammit!

_"Has anyone ever tried to destroy it?"_ Sanji thought at them all, taking a drag.

_"We can't touch it,"_ Mihawk answered, leading them back to the cliff face and away from the twisted sickening feeling the stones radiated.

_"So,"_ Sanji continued, following slowly, _"what do you think would happen if we ran up there right now and kicked them all over the place?"_

Shanks pulled his mantle closer to him. _"Got me. But you'd better be damn sure you know what you're doing first. As I said, you're no good to anyone dead, so I don't recommend it."_

"It could fix everything," Sanji said, speaking out loud again. "Then we'd all be able to get the hell out of here."

"I don't think the answer will just fall into our hands this easily," said Zoro. "It would have been fixed long ago by some kids playing out here if it were so simple."

"Not necessarily. What kid would play in a place that feels like this? Besides, it's dangerous out here and no one comes around. And if they're not all lit up, they don't exactly leap out at you."

"_Gentlemen,"_ Shanks said, stepping between them. "_Such a shame to break this up, but we shouldn't linger here, and you,"_ he looked at Sanji, _"need to become far more discreet with your language if you want to remain as you are now."_

"What does that mean?"

"_Remember, Sanji, I told you what Luffy said to me? About talking?"_ Zoro thought.

Sanji sunk into a glare, but shut his mouth as the four lifted to the upper level again and headed through the noisy storm-abused vines back to the house.

"_We need to do something," _Sanji projected his thought. Everyone heard it, but it was intended for his cousin.

"_Not yet," _Zoro stressed.

Sanji looked at Zoro like he would a man with a backwards head on his shoulders. _"Not yet? What the hell are you waiting for, crap-moron? The right stars to align? We can't just live here until you decide you're ready to grow some balls."_

Zoro spun around. "I'm not afraid of it, dumbass, okay?" he snapped loudly. "I just think it's stupid to do something before we know everything we can about what's happening, or about what could happen to everyone when we do fix it!"

"You didn't think it was stupid before! Any fate would be better than this!"

_"He's right,"_ Shanks said, cutting into the argument and getting everyone moving again to keep up. _"No matter how bad it might seem, any fate free of this place is better than staying."_

Lonely, but spirited blue eyes shined to the front of Zoro's mind coupled with a sad and honest smile rarely seen. _Dying…_

_"I just want to know what the inscription says," he thought back. "Before we do anything, we should know that."_

Sanji heaved an exasperated sigh and pushed forward.

"Then let's go find out. By all means."

Zoro nodded a nod that no one could see in the storm.

They made it all the way to the house without incident and the Dwellers saw the Outsiders off in the courtyard. Sanji walked right in, eager to escape the rain and get studying, and Zoro lagged behind him in thought.

Before he climbed the steps to the front door Zoro turned around.

"Shanks?"

Shanks inclined his head, and Mihawk left the courtyard, headed for the creek.

"Is Luffy…? Was…"

_"I think that things about Luffy are best answered by Luffy. Just because I know some of a story doesn't mean it's mine to tell, and I missed the end of it, anyway. Mihawk should have thought about that."_

"But-"

_"I told him a story a long time ago during a time when I was missing my children particularly badly, knowing that he would never meet them and without seeing the harm in it. But I won't betray my son to his friends. Don't jump to a bunch of conclusions. We've been here for a long time, Zoro,"_ Shanks said, and Zoro got the feeling he'd just had his mind read in an unwelcome way. _"If you really want to help him, you can't leave him like he is now. I know what you're thinking, but none of your ideas would work. More importantly you wouldn't be saving him. You can't deny him the freedom of your world and think you can come join his instead. You'll never be able to protect him that way. Not as long as he's here like he is."_

Zoro looked down in shame.

Shanks's tone stayed warm as he spoke aloud. "I'm grateful for how much you care about my son. But this Hill is a giant mind-game. It likes to feel our pain. Even if you joined us, you would never be allowed to have him the way you want to."

"The way I want to?"

"The Hill is smart. If you become a Dweller, you'll never touch him again, and the Hill knows that."

With that, Shanks dispersed leaving Zoro standing on the steps by himself.


	21. On The Other Side

**Homecoming Hill**

21

_On The Other Side_

When Zoro and Sanji went upstairs they found that Kuina's earlier warmth had escalated into an small but undeniable fever. Zoro had to wake her up to give her some Tylenol and juice before tucking her in for the night, and she hadn't been hungry for the food Sanji's dragged himself back to the car to get. Then they'd gone into Sanji's room and started poring through heavy volumes on cultures from around the world.

Sanji searched faster than Zoro did, desperate to find the answer that would get them off the Hill and back east.

Usopp was encouraging him to look harder by sitting on the bed and telling jokes that had been old in the twentieth century. Sanji couldn't see him, but his head popped up and turned sharply in all directions like a startled bird every time Usopp's voice lanced the quiet ambience of legs shifting and pages being turned.

It had been easier with Mihawk, Sanji had to admit to himself. He hadn't been able to see him, either, but with the storm lowering his visibility of everyone else as well, it hadn't mattered so much. And the telepathic way of conversing meant that he didn't need to face who he was talking to anyway. He felt very uncomfortable, however, talking to and hearing a bodiless voice floating around the room.

The degree to which Sanji was aware of the presence of an Everlasting or Dweller was according to a case-by-case system no one could make sense of, but that Zoro found wickedly entertaining and easy to torment all the same. The coffee angel he'd been babbling about had turned out to be Robin, and then he'd been unable to resist flirting with Conis in the corridor while Zoro had been in Kuina's bedchamber. He'd been forlornly disheartened to hear first that Kaya was taken by Usopp, and later that Nami was spoken for in an unspoken sort of way that Zoro could not properly explain (nor prove for that matter. It was only based on the tension he picked up around she and Ace, so Zoro had been relieved when Sanji hadn't demanded evidence). When they had gone to Ace's quiet room (the eviction had been reinstated by Ace so he could think or plan or something) they had met the moderator himself, along with Franky who was still healing, and Chopper who was helping the process along with his phenomenal healing talents. It turned out that Chopper's powers made him so valuable to the weaker Everlastings that Ace kept him close so he wouldn't be stolen and bartered for ransom.

Some Residents Sanji could only hear. Some only see. Some of the some he could see appeared as only glimmer of light or a shadow where they were, and some of the some he could hear he only heard when that Resident had really focused on speaking to him and forced the words to be heard. Sanji had been introduced as best was possible to eight Everlastings and two Dwellers so far, and of them all the only two he'd been able to fully experience were Ace and Shanks. Zoro was sure that, when they met, Luffy would go on the list to make up the only three that Sanji would be able to fully experience, but Ace had hinted that the awareness grew quickly for Outsiders once it had sprouted.

In the meantime, a good time was being had by Usopp, who found picking on Sanji as fun as Zoro did.

By the time night had fully fallen outside Zoro was nearing the completion of the last book, feeling discouraged.

"Maybe we should send her home," Sanji suggested. "Bad things are coming one right after another now, and you remember what it felt like out there. Even the air was alive."

"She won't want to go alone," Zoro said slowly, focused on the book he was skimming. "Besides, she's safe in this wing. We'll keep an eye out for her and no one will attack her. The Everlastings are helping us watch out for her, too."

"From what they can protect her from, you mean. It's not like they're invincible," Sanji quipped as he began to change for bed.

"They're stronger than you think."

"But they were sucked in by this place, now weren't they? And the way you tell it is they have only the power they've been imbued with by the thing that trapped them in the first place. You know, in Greek mythology that same difference in power is what distinguishes the gods on Olympus from the people they created and ruled over for entertainment; their playthings. You're comparing Rah to the Egyptians during a famine; Hades to the people in Tartarus; Voldemort to the rest of the wizarding world in book seven!"

Zoro zoned Sanji's voice into white noise at the Harry Potter reference and could tell by Usopp's vacant expression that the Everlasting had done it as well. He stayed tuned out until the talking stopped, and then he settled into the tranquil silence. But as soon as he was comfortable there, Sanji's voice cut through it and distracted him again.

"Don't you think it's strange how often these kinds of things happen? I mean, if it were just one time or one place it would be treated like the strangest stand-alone occurrence in history, like a black day. But this isn't the first time a whole town's worth of people has vanished without a trace just like this."

"Hm."

"It's happened several times throughout history, but always far apart. Almost like someone is doing it intentionally, trying to be inconspicuous about it by waiting until one missing town is eventually forgotten before taking the next one away. It's convenient, isn't it? Like the people who vanished are all part of some agenda."

"Hm."

"I wonder if what happened here is also what happened there. Then all those people would be trapped there just like all the people that are trapped here."

Sanji came back to sit on the corner of his bed.

Zoro glanced up at him and jerked back.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

Sanji looked down at himself in his freckled pajamas.

"What?"

"You look like the spotted remains of a fish flake accident."

"Shut up. I've had them for weeks and you've never cared before."

"Oh, I'd have cared. If I had seen them before, I'd have cared then, too. They make me think that either I'm lost in a Babies R Us or you're auditioning for a new Mike Meyers comedy."

"You're obnoxious. Find anything?"

"I've got nothing," Zoro said, giving up and tipping the cover of his book shut in frustration. "Your books are stupid, Sanji."

"_You're_ stupid, dumbass."

"Now I'll have to look somewhere else," he grumbled, looking at the pile on the floor. He stared at nothing for a three count and then sighed. "We shouldn't be up late anyway. It makes things harder for them."

Zoro lugged his body off the floor and headed for the door.

"Zoro."

Zoro turned.

Sanji squeezed his fingers individually and randomly. "Did they all look like that?"

"Like what?"

"You know. The way they looked..."

Zoro waited in silence, so Sanji continued. "Outside. You saw more of them than I did. But their faces... and their eyes. Did they all look like that?"

Oh. Like _that_.

Zoro took a breath and deliberated. "Some less than others, but yes. To some degree."

"If I wanted to see people who had eyes like that, I'd have volunteered for the Red Cross after the Katrina disaster in New Orleans." He squeezed his fingers harder. "They just look..."

"Hopeless. Lost."

"Yes." Sanji shrugged helplessly.

Zoro looked at his cousin. He thought of all the people outside in the storm. The children. Shanks. The crowd that had gathered to laugh and watch his frisbee game with Kuina days before. All trapped out in the storm.

"I hear what you're saying. We'll figure something out."

"We have to."

Zoro turned to go again. "G'night, Usopp. And Sanji? Sleep with one eye open."

"Sure." Sanji was looking warningly at a gaping space two feet to the right of where Usopp was trying not to laugh at him. "I'm never going to sleep well here again."

Zoro rolled his eyes and pointed to Usopp, then to his own eyes, then to Sanji.

Usopp nodded, and Zoro departed into the dark corridor.

"Zoro?"

Zoro jumped and spun on his heel, heart racing. Beside Sanji's door Nami twisted around to make sure there wasn't anything behind her.

Zoro clutched his chest.

"We need to come up with a system of some kind. You guys need to stop doing that to me."

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Oops," she said, still looking around into the shadows.

"Why aren't you with Kuina?"

"What?"

"Kuina. Why aren't you with her?"

"Oh, oh. Um…I wanted to talk to you. But you're right, we should be in the room. Let's go now."

She passed him and bee lined to her door and he followed.

When they got inside, Zoro pretended that checking Kuina's fever was some special event that took a lot longer than it really did so he could act like he didn't notice Nami going around the room twice to make sure it was secure.

But he did make a little small talk.

"Nami?"

"Hm?" she said, still moving around the room like an nervous bird.

"Do people get sick here often?"

"Who, Everlastings? Never. We can't."

"Outsiders."

"Oh." She twisted around to look at Kuina. "Well, it's not rare, but it's not really common either. Your sister's just sick because she was out in the rain last night and then she went through a lot in the West Wing today, probably. Now she's seeing ghosts… it's a lot hit a child all at once, I'd think. Stress can cause illness as easily as a virus can."

"So no one's ever died because the Hill made them sick," Zoro specified.

Nami looked out her window to the tree line that, unbeknownst to her, Zoro and Sanji had been right under only an hour before.

"You're a good big brother. Like Ace. You're also just as paranoid about your sibling. People _have_ gotten sick here and died. That's why Conis's father is here. It seems to prolong recoveries, but wounded Outsiders have healed up fine given enough time…well, unless they die right away. So I don't see why the infirmed would be different. It's not like people make a practice of getting sick and dying often that I know of, but I have to admit, I've only been here for about twenty-five years. Still, the Hill doesn't _choose_ dying people. At least I've never heard of one before. If you look, everyone here is either healthy or dead with their injuries still showing, right? It's one extreme or the other."

"If they had been dying of disease and not been able to finish passing on, would you be able to tell?"

Nami shrugged. "Well…we'd probably just know because a lot of us have seen each other come here. Ace and Luffy have seen all but maybe eight Everlastings arrive here, and they've never said anything about anybody being almost dead when they changed. But if there were, they'd probably stand out somehow, I'm sure. Someone would notice something off about them."

Zoro sighed. Luffy certainly stood out, just not physically (unless one counted his abnormal translucency, which Nami didn't seem to). A unique power that made everyone fear him made him 'stand out' enough for Zoro. But people who had been around Luffy for decades would only perceive him as an Everlasting who'd been well-endowed, and they'd never thought to consider why.

"But then," Nami continued, "I guess if it decided to target someone who suddenly got really sick before they were claimed, the Hill probably wouldn't change it's mind. It's been doing it's thing for nearly a century now, so I'm confident that it's a dedicated…whatever it is, because it's never taken back anything so far."

"Would any of the other eight they didn't see arrive know?"

"They're all completely insane. Haven't spoken in years. It's been too long for them and they had no family. I think the reason that Ace and Luffy are okay is because they've always been together."

She finally seemed satisfied with the security of the room let out a deep breath, so Zoro pretended to complete his check-up, pulled Kuina's blankets to her chin and walked to the end of the bed.

"So what's up?"

"Huh? Oh, you know. Same old stuff."

"Nothing's going on?"

"Not really," she smiled.

"Okay… What did you want to talk about?"

"Oh! Right. Um, since we're sort of talking about him anyway, how are Luffy and you doing? Is he acting strange at all tonight?"

"Don't know yet. Haven't seen him."

"Oh. That's…um… Well, when you do…" She reached out and took his hand. "…Look, I know talking to him can feel…impossible, and that I have no business saying anything to you about him, but he's worth all the effort and he really, really likes you."

"Uh-huh. You've said all this to me before," Zoro helpfully pointed out.

"I know, but I wanted to say it again because," she paused, searching for the words, "because he'll probably be going through something really traumatic soon, and I don't want you to…um…"

"Get scared away?"

Nami looked sheepish. "Maybe?"

"I won't leave you guys behind me and take off, Nami. I promise."

Nami's eyes became glassy, and Zoro hoped he hadn't said anything stupid.

"Are- are you okay?"

She laughed and wiped her eyes, walking around him to her fireplace.

"I'm sorry. I'm just… such a girl sometimes."

She took a deep breath and turned back around. "He's really lucky to have you near him so much," she said, nodding toward the wall that doubled as Luffy's.

Zoro sat on the mattress and pulled a knee to his chest. "I'm trying. I don't think I'm helping him, though."

"Oh, you _are_." Nami stressed.

"There's still so much about him I don't know."

"Well, obviously. I think everyone feels that way about Luffy sometimes. Except for maybe Ace, but that's because no one's closer to him."

"I know almost nothing about him. …I met his father outside. He's a Dweller."

"Okay," said Nami.

Zoro was confused. "Doesn't that surprise you?"

"No. Should it have? A lot of us have family outside. Ace told me his dad was out there a long time ago. The windows aren't exactly made of brick, Zoro."

"Oh…" Zoro mentally kicked himself. Luffy had hinted himself that he knew his father was out there. Who else could been the Dweller whom Luffy suspected was as strong as Ace? Maybe Everlasting's power levels ran in families to an extent and that's why Luffy had guessed it.

"He's not their real father, though," Nami said.

Zoro's last thought fizzled like a dead candle.

"What?"

"Shanks. He's not their real father. Ace and Luffy were adopted by him."

"…What? But wait, are Luffy and Ace really brothers, then? I mean, they look like brothers, but they both look like Shanks, too. Especially Luffy…"

Nami was nodding while Zoro spoke. "Ace and Luffy are brothers, yes. One hundred percent. Shanks took them in together. Luffy was closest to him, though. I can see it every time Luffy mentions him. You know about Luffy's hat right? That straw hat he wears all the time?"

"Yeah."

"It's Shanks' hat. Shanks gave it to him the day they became residents."

"Why a straw hat?"

Nami shrugged. "I haven't the faintest idea. They sound like they were an unconventional family. You know how Luffy has a scar on his cheek? Well, apparently Shanks has one near the same side of his face and they had just happened to get them both the day they met. That alone isn't really strange, but whenever Luffy mentions it he gets all happy. Seems insane to me."

She sighed and picked up a picture frame from her side-table drawer. wrung out her hands and glanced around again before saying, "He's doing so much better already. It's amazing. Luffy's a giver, and when people open up to him, he feels compelled to return that, and that's how he forms emotional closeness to people. But when bad things happen around him, people push him away. Never us, but he doesn't care. It only takes a few people trying to hurt him to make him close off from everybody. He just wanted to figure things out, I think. But he wasn't able to, and his control slipped. He's suffering thanks to this stupid house and that stupid thing it made him do! His soul is tearing itself up. This damn HILL is destroying all of us!" she screamed, clenching her hands at her sides as tears of anger and pain brimmed in her eyes.

She dropped the frame on the bed where it didn't wake Zoro's sister, and he was able to make out a photo of two young girls, one with blue hair and vaguely familiar butterfly tattoos, though he couldn't place them. The other girl's face was blurred out, but he'd noticed on the first day that Nami's face was blurred from all her photographs.

"Nami…" Zoro said.

Nami shook her head and sniffed. "I'm sorry. It's just… I get carried away sometimes."

"It's alright," Zoro nodded.

She pushed her hands through her hair and passed Zoro again to plunk back in her rocking chair. "I wish tonight was tomorrow. Then I could go see the others and we could all mill about in Ace's room, instead of having to be in stations. The others can always cheer me up."

"You really depend on each other, don't you?"

Nami nodded. "We wouldn't be able to get through this without each other. …I wish Luffy could understand that. But he keeps saying he's fine." She looked at Zoro and gave him a watery smile. "And I don't think that's the kind of attention he needs. The group… I think they're too overbearing. He needs someone that will share a heart-to-heart with him. All the problems are inside. I think that the one to heal him has to come from Outside… don't you?" she tilted her head in askance.

And Zoro had to agree. "Yes. This place is a poison."

He looked Kuina over once more before heading for the door.

"Hey, Nami?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know… If you found out that a friend of yours was dying, and you knew how to help him or her stay alive for longer, but that doing that would make your friend really sad, what would you do?"

"Do you mean like if the cure was worse than the disease?"

"Yeah. Just like that."

"And it would be painful to live so my friend would never really be able to enjoy life as much as he could without being sick?"

"…Yeah, I guess."

"Has this friend come to terms with the fact that he'll die?"

"I don't know…"

"I mean, has he asked for help to prolong the suffering and live longer?"

"No… Sort of the opposite. Kind of."

"…Then I think you just answered the question for me. I'd spend the rest of his time making him happy, making memories that I would be careful never to forget. But I wouldn't make the rest of his life a hell. I wouldn't want him to actually _wish_ for death."

Zoro looked at the floor. "But what if you don't want him to go?"

"Oh, Zoro." Nami pushed herself out of her rocking chair and walked up to give him a hug. "Usopp and the others like him are ready. It's been a long time for them, and they aren't even supposed to be here anymore, really. They're in pain all the time because those wounds they have that killed them will never heal. He hides it well-he's had lots of time to practice-but that blood on Usopp's coveralls is there for a reason. I care about them all, too. But if you really want to help them, you need to be willing to let them go."

Zoro hugged her back subconsciously, mind stuck in a pothole of the road of his thoughts. Usopp? First she'd confused his concern for being about Kuina, and now she thought he was upset about Usopp and the others? Usopp hadn't even crossed his mind. He suddenly felt sick about that, but the fact remained. Usopp was dead. So was Kaku. And Brooke. They were dead already, and as soon Zoro saved them, they would be gone forever. Why hadn't he realized that?

She stepped back and offered an encouraging smile. "Okay?"

Zoro took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay."

He could see it in her eyes; Nami didn't know about Luffy.

If she didn't know about him, how much did she really know about sickness on the Hill?

Perhaps Luffy hadn't been sick…? But if he hadn't been dying, why hadn't Shanks said something? He couldn't have been dying of injury, he had no wounds Zoro could see, and the nightclothes he wore were white. Unless Luffy had bandages on under his clothes? Maybe he had a wound that was kept clean, but had become infected, and that's why he'd been dying!

Zoro frowned to himself and let Nami go. There were too many possibilities. He'd have to ask Luffy, and Luffy would hate that and probably push him away again. The boy was so defensive!

"Thanks, Nami. And thanks for the heads up about tonight."

"I never said anything about tonight!" She exclaimed, then twisted her hands and looked like she was trying to recall if she actually had.

Zoro smiled and gave her another quick hug.

"Still, thank you."

"Good luck," she wished.

Zoro walked back to his room, unaware that in a few days he would think back and wonder upon which of the many upcoming events it was that her wish of luck had been intended for.

* * *

Darkness in a room that usually had a fire of supernatural beauty going at night gave even the pale light coming from outside the privilege of featuring itself. Luffy was still standing against the sliding door that led out to his balcony, looking over the vines distantly as if ticking down the seconds, waiting for something to happen, which Zoro worried was exactly what he was doing. Luffy's glow was faint. More faint than it had been even a few days before, and Zoro knew he wasn't imagining it anymore.

"It will be tonight, won't it?"

Luffy tensed and turned around, taking in the sight of Zoro before relaxing his shoulders again. His eyes, however, merely shifted from showing one kind of fear to showing another before Luffy pulled his hat down to shadow them.

"If it… if they… Ace is-" he stopped and fingered the brim of his hat like a worry stone. "I hope not."

"Do want to talk about it?"

"I don't know. Perhaps," he admitted. "But I don't think I should."

"Why not?" Zoro was careful to keep his voice nonchalant.

"I might slip."

"You can go slow. I'll go slow too. That way we can think about what we want to say…" he trailed off.

Luffy was shaking his head. "I shouldn't."

Zoro sat on his bed and ran his hand absently over the comforter. The bed was vibrating.

"Will you have to fight?"

Luffy turned back to the window, and Zoro was sure he'd trade anything to be on the other side of the glass where the grass looked greener. His fingers abandoned his hat brim to worry the sleeves of it sleeper instead.

"I don't think I should."

"That's your answer to everything tonight," Zoro said, pulling off his socks.

"Ace says I might have to, but that would be insane. I'm the last resort, but I don't want to fight. I shouldn't."

Zoro tossed his at the wardrobe and crossed the room to the glass door.

"When do you think the rain will leave?" Luffy asked quietly when Zoro reached his side.

Zoro thought back to the weather report he'd seen in _Atlay's_.

"I'm sure things will clear up soon," he lied. "It doesn't look like it now, but the rain can't fall forever."

"I wonder sometimes," Luffy said dreamily, as if he was talking in his sleep. "You know, raindrops have to fall a really long way from the clouds to the ground. It's probably really scary and cold, and the whole time they don't know how it's going to end, but they hope for some better future to come for them. And maybe they fall for so long that they forget that there is another way to be; they forget they used to be clouds, and that they were warm, and that they enjoyed sunshine and drifted freely, and the something better that they hoped for is forgotten, and they pray for the cold and the falling to just stop. Just end. And it does end. And their hope was for nothing because it ends the same way for all the raindrops."

Zoro reached up to touch Luffy, then retracted his hand. "How does it end?"

Luffy's vision, seeing nothing, continued to gaze fixedly on the blackness of outside.

"They all get destroyed," he answered.

Zoro looked at the glass, his reflection blocking the view of the rain outside of it. Luffy had no reflection to make him feel real. When he looked at the window, all he saw reflecting at him was darkness behind him…as if he wasn't there. Wasn't real.

_I will get you out of here_, Zoro thought at him. _No matter what the price._

Luffy made no sign that he'd gripped his elbows loosely in his hands.

"All this fighting is the Hill's fault. Everyone is fighting over power. We justify it however we need to, but really that's all it's about. People who have a little crave more. Crocodile wants our wing, but more than that he wants our power; Ace's and mine. Then he could rule over everyone in the manor. But he can't have it. The powers the Hill grants us cannot be transferred, and this angers him. That's what this whole thing about. And everyone from both wings has been swept up in his jealousy, and they have to suffer. He can create dreams, but he uses it to cause terror, and now he's called the Sandman. Others with only slightly lesser power became gang leaders. Like Ener, who leads the Gods gang. And Lucci, who leads the Cipher Pol 9 gang."

"But Ace and I are feared, too. We can really hurt others if we want to. To die is mercy we are not allowed no matter how injured we are, and it takes a long time for some Everlastings to heal because healing requires a lot of power-more power than what most of us can generate in a few days. Even I can only heal a few times before depleting my energy. Usopp has so little power that when he gets hurt someone else has to use their power to help him along or it would take weeks. Chopper's good at healing others, so we're lucky to have him here, but it's really all he can do. Everyone fights over power.

"But sometimes the fates will play a joke on somebody by 'gifting' them with a talent that can't be given or taken away, and other people hate them because of it. It doesn't matter that it's a heavy responsibility and a burden, or even if it's dangerous or evil, others want it. I have it. Others don't. This bothers them."

Luffy turned and looked at his bedroom door. Zoro looked with him. "They were afraid to come before now, but now they think things will have changed, that Ace and I will be weaker because of the quakes. But they don't know…"

This time when Zoro moved to touch Luffy, he didn't stop. Luffy felt the hand on his shoulder, and didn't push it away.

"Does he force you into nightmares, Luffy? Is that how he holds power over you? Does he show you terrible things so real that you feel them happening? Is that how he hurts you?"

Luffy turned his face away to look at his bedroom door. "They were afraid to come before now, but now they think things will have changed, that Ace and I will be weaker. But they don't _know_…"

Electricity in the air sparked slightly, making Zoro's hair stand up. Luffy didn't notice.

" sometimes the fates will play a joke on somebody by 'gifting' them with a talent that can't be given or taken away, and other people hate them because of it. It doesn't matter that it's a heavy responsibility and a burden, or even if it's dangerous or evil, others want it. This is why we fight. I have it. Others don't. This bothers them."

Zoro swallowed and spoke, "How would you feel if you didn't have all this power anymore?"

For the first time Luffy look at Zoro beside him, and smiled. "Free."

They stood in silence for perhaps another minute. Then Zoro said, "Aren't you going to prepare for bed?"

Zoro jerked. "…I'm thinking I don't really want to get into bedclothes tonight. They're hindering."

Luffy looked him up and down and Zoro had the feeling he wasn't impressed by what he saw. "Aye. Fine."

Zoro nodded in relief, then forced himself to keep nodding in discomfort when Luffy's following smirk was a little too all-knowing to be innocent.

"If you want to stay dressed in 'non-hindering' clothes when you're sleeping, that's your prerogative."

"Yep, sure is."

Luffy looked back outside and shrugged casually. "I mean, you'll just be sleeping anyway, so you should do it comfortably. It's not as if you're foolish enough to have formulated a plan to stay up and see if I leave and then follow me when no one's watching you so that you can try to play spectator to something too dangerous to be so much as observed safely. Especially since you know you're one of the things they're after in the first place and if you were sneaking around you'd be bringing the spoils right to them when I wouldn't be able to protect you."

Zoro's stare stayed firmly fixed outside and he pretended not to feel Luffy's eyes on him again.

"Because it would be ridiculous of me to suspect you of having so little common sense," Luffy finished. "Wouldn't it?"

Zoro's spine felt rigid, yet he decided to never say die and forced himself to nod. "Sure would."

"Why don't you go get changed for bed now," Luffy suggested again.

Zoro deflated and dragged his feet to the wardrobe.

Zoro wasn't sure what woke him up at first.

Had Luffy knocked him out? It obviously hadn't taken very well.

Earlier he'd laid down and tried to fall asleep naturally because whenever Luffy knocked him out he left no exceptions to heavy sleeping, but he hadn't been able to. Luffy had been trying too hard not to appear edgy and impatient, and after only a few minutes he'd put Zoro to sleep, but he hadn't just instantly pumped him full of power. He'd taken a few seconds to take Zoro under easily.

Zoro had speculated as he'd drifted off that perhaps Luffy was trying to conserve his power like so many others were.

He heard a noise. A soft sound, like something sliding on leather, and after another second, he decided to settle on the guess that Luffy was shifting around in his chair. Was he coming to curl up on the bed at his feet again?

If he was, it would probably be like the night before, and that was all right. Zoro knew that Luffy wasn't trying to sleep - didn't _need_ to sleep - but he had stayed there all night searching for comfort in Zoro's presence.

Then the other sound that had woken him up so many nights before drifted over to him, and Zoro laid in bed and listened to Luffy sniffle by the sliding door behind him again, and became angry at himself for being a right side-sleeper.

Minutes passed, but Zoro didn't move. He waited for the sound of Luffy getting out of the squashy armchair and feared for a moment he'd missed it. But the sound eventually came and Zoro shifted carefully from his side to his back, bringing Luffy into clear view.

Then he realized he was an idiot for not figuring it out a week ago, because this is what he saw.

He saw Luffy get right up close to the glass. He saw the boy raise his hands up and press them against the window. And then, on the other side, he saw a larger pair of hands press against Luffy's, matching them finger to finger with the cold, transparent barrier in between them.

And then Zoro knew why Luffy stood by the window every night diligently waiting like a puppy pining for it's owner.

He could see that on the other side Shanks was speaking comforting words of encouragement to his son, but his voice didn't penetrate the barrier the Hill had created to keep them apart, and they didn't ebb Luffy's tears even as he nodded and pressed closer to the glass, craving nearness to his father. Zoro took in the heartbreaking scene with the pained discomfort of an IRS officer who'd inadvertently shown up at a client's wake to collect the year's dues.

Luffy sobbed a few unintelligible word-like noises back at him, and Shanks nodded, understanding what Zoro doubted was real language.

After a few minutes Shanks looked past Luffy into the darkness. Curious, Zoro followed his gaze and saw Ace standing, barely glowing in the bedroom doorway, the corridor a cavern of darkness behind him.

Ace approached the pair without a sound, and touched his brother's shoulder. Luffy immediately tried to compose himself, wiping his eyes on his sleeves and holding his head high while his hands shook. Outside Shanks looked sadly at his sons, and nodded to Ace, repeating his earlier words of love to his eldest. Ace accepted them with the grace of a leader, reached his free hand to the glass to meet his father's hand on the window, and returned the gesture.

Shanks mouthed something more and then dispersed, leaving his sons to each other.

Ace said nothing while Luffy strived to look resiliently unaffected.

"They're moving?" Luffy said, crossing his arms as if he'd never cried a day in his life.

"They're camping in the foyer. You'll guard them here?"

Zoro could only assume 'them' meant himself and his family. So neither of the brothers knew he was awake. Then he wondered how, in case they realized it, he could trick them both into thinking he was not blatantly eavesdropping.

"Aye. I will," Luffy murmured, pulling his hands into his sleeves.

"Right, then." Ace squeezed Luffy's shoulders. "Hold the line."

Luffy was the only person _in_ his line, and Ace's meaning was acknowledged.

Ace loosed his grip and departed from the room taking long strides like a suburban man leaving for a doctor's appointment, and not very much like a soldier heading for the trenches. The room was left in silence and Luffy curled back up in his chair.

Zoro tried to lay still and look asleep without actually nodding off.

They remained like this for a half an hour before Kaya burst their closed door, out of breath and limping. Her dress was soaking up silver blood around her right side and cuts ran deep up and down her arm like whip lashes. Her hair was skewed, her eyes wide and wet, her lungs forcing themselves painfully.

She stumbled and fell to the floor by the door.

"Luffy!" she gasped, reaching out for him. "Please! Help them. All of them are fighting. All of them. We've barely started fighting, and already we're not going to be able to hold them back. They'll outlast us."

Luffy helped Kaya to her feet and looked at her arms. His face revealed no emotion as she sobbed and tucked her hair back with shaking hands. He closed his eyes.

"Who did this to you?"

"M-MacDonald," she hiccupped.

Luffy took a deep breath and let it out.

"Wait here," he said, finally.

"No," Kaya said, shaking her head fiercely. "I won't sit up here and wait. I know I haven't been here as long as you have, but I'm part of this. I came to bring you back, not to hide away."

Luffy pulled his hat low over his eyes.

"Then let's go."

And they Dispersed and left the room together.

Zoro counted to sixty before he slipped out of bed to follow them. He got as far as the door which had been sealed shut by the frozen doorknob.

"Shit!" he whispered.

Luffy had noticed him after all. But of course he had. He never missed a thing.

Zoro paced in front of the door fighting with the knob every couple of seconds before impatience overwhelmed him and he punched the wall. But beating up the wall didn't do any good for him, because the problem wasn't with the wall, but the door. If the door wasn't going to work for him then as far as he was concerned it was broken, and he knew of only one way to fix a broken door.

He kicked it down, and then he left the bits of broken frame to tumble across the floor on the other side while he raced down the corridor.


	22. Into the Cold Night Air

**Homecoming Hill**

22

_Into the Cold Night Air_

Zoro sprinted around the corner to the a wild ensemble of sounds reaching out faintly from the lobby, most of which resembled kiyais and screams. He slowed at the top of the stairs and went down them carefully, shielded from view by the wall only until their end. Crouching low, he leaned out and beheld through the banister poles a scene that cannot be properly described using language alone, but must be described inadequately all the same as a magical battle from The Lord of the Rings cross-bred with a taunting, jeering physical punishment once carried out by white landlords over innocent slaves in what would later be known as the southern United States.

Screams bounced off the ceiling and rained back down on everyone. So did the psychotic, Nazi-like laughter of cruel men and women who knew they were winning.

The few East Wingers that Zoro could find in the melee were in bad condition, but pushing themselves against their visible exhaustion.

The West Wingers had quirky dress styles as odd as some of the East Wingers, but their auras exuded a dark unpredictability that was identically unmitigated from those of non-medicated sociopaths.

Every East Winger was locked in a battle with at least one West Winger, and the West Wingers who weren't fighting were laughing and watching with glee, awaiting their turns and in some cases simply entertaining voyeurism.

Many of the West Wingers had used their variances of powers to turn parts of their bodies into weapons-something Zoro had never seen before-while a very strongly talented few were using elements in nature as their weapons, shooting electricity bolts like Ener or fire like Ace's-weaker, but still damaging. But the predominantly used attack style that Zoro saw was traditional fisticuffs. One did not require super power to throw a punch or use martial arts. Those who were contrastingly out of control were contorting the gravity in their plane to toss people around, and screams were resounding around the room.

Then there came the shattering sound of glass exploding, and it echoed in a way that made Zoro jump. Everyone in the room stopped moving and looked over through the shattered window where glass still fell to the floor, and everyone immediately backed away from the hole in the room, some screaming in terror.

_How the hell?_ Zoro thought as they scrambled over each other below. _But there's a barrier. Luffy said there was a barrier! They can't use their power to make an opening. Who-? _

Then he realized why everyone had stopped fighting. Looking through the hole, he made out the body of an Everlasting who'd been thrown through the glass by a random toss of power being blasted around. It looked like a woman, crawling and scrambling to get back inside the manor as fast as she could, but she was screaming in an unearthly voice of pain and terror that refuted gender. They had said with certainty that they couldn't pass the barrier of the walls and windows, but now Zoro understood what they meant. He'd been envisioning a barrier like a bubble that just didn't let you out. That wasn't how this barrier behaved. The Hill was muchmore cruel than that.

She struggled to get back to the window, but her desire came to no fruition.

Before she could touch the wall she began to seize and drop to her knees in the drive path, still reaching as if to will herself back inside, and the dark storm made it hard at first for Zoro to realize why she wasn't still moving, but he was able to make out after a few moments of watching her collapsed form that she was starting to fall apart.

She wasn't fading away-such a sight would have been far less gruesome and bloodstained. Her smaller appendages, her fingers and ears, flaked away bit by bit like tea leaves in the wind, and trickles of blood became gushes from where they had been as she screamed despairingly and reached out to the helpless voyeurs inside, begging them for a rescue they could not give. All of the Everlastings inside backed away from the window, some screaming themselves as if afraid they might get sucked out by sheer proximity to the death portal alone. Zoro didn't notice this, but if he had he'd still have found it insignificant.

Six feet from the window, the lost Everlasting's writhing, screaming body crumbled into chunks of dead flesh, and then disintegrated into piles that were pounded into mud by the drumming rain, well and truly dead. Whether her soul had passed on or ceased to exist, Zoro couldn't know. Based on the open expressions of curious awe, panicked fear, and deep sorrow that were tossed together like an Everlasting salad in the lobby, he didn't think anyone else knew either.

People from both wings stood afraid to move, united by one common fear if only for a minute, though Zoro was sure that none of them would think of it that way. Still, they fed off each other's shared disbelief and stared in shock at the place where one of their own had perished for good in front of them all.

As Zoro watched, the window put itself back together and sealed them away from the world outside. Of all the powers he'd seen used, this one was actually the most unnerving, because Luffy had mentioned that they couldn't use their powers on the walls and windows to the outside-they didn't work. The Hill, or something on the hill, was manipulating the window, restoring its barrier and putting its metaphorical prison bars back in place. That window might have been consciously restored rather than automatically. Zoro felt like the Hill was telling all of them that it was watching them, and reminding them to abide by the rules. It felt like a reprimand; a three-count before it came to deliver terrible punishments.

It almost made fighting over a piece of the Hill ridiculous. No one owned any part of this place. It owned them.

But then someone, possibly, Zoro thought, a friend of the gruesomely deceased, screamed and ran at everyone around her, forcing them completely back to the heat of the moment, and as attack begot attack, a chain reaction began and soon everyone was fighting as if nothing had happened, for the stakes were too high to do anything less. Shock turned into adrenaline, and the fight became more violent, painful, and angry with each final blow that turned out not to be so.

Zoro couldn't register the resumed bloodshed yet. He now understood why all of the people on the Hill accepted their imprisonment inside or out with grace and didn't try to fight it anymore. Their terror at the broken window told Zoro that they had tried to in the past, though. No way they could have simply known that they couldn't pass in or out freely without a real-time demonstration to show them. It also explained why everyone so strictly adhered to the barrier's presence, even going so far as to distinguish themselves almost ethnically as Everlastings and Dwellers, two races of curse-bearers. They accepted their boundaries without testing them because defiance assured them a painful annihilation. They'd quenched their curiosity long ago, and Zoro knew in his gut that it wouldn't have made a difference whether she'd made it back in or not. She'd started screaming the instant the window had shattered; she was marked for death before she'd even passed completely through the glass.

Zoro, forcing himself to overcome what he'd seen, focused his attention from the past and onto what was happening now. He couldn't find Luffy by darting his eyes around, and there was too much dispersing and regathering going on both on the ground and in the air to possibly take in everyone at once. A head count would have been completely impossible, and Zoro now understood how Ace and Luffy could live here for eighty years and not know how many Everlastings there were, or even all of their names.

Zoro spotted Kaya being forced to the floor by a lanky man in black who'd grown blades out of the tips of his fingers, and he wanted badly to scream for the West Winger to leave her alone and pick on someone his own size. He restrained himself, holding his breath and hating himself for it. He would only make it worse for everyone he cared about if he walked into the enemy's arms. As it was the tall man was content to smile wickedly and mock her as she turned her face away and closed her eyes.

Like Kaya, Nami, too, was bleeding from a pierced side, and was pressed up back-to-back with Robin, who was making short work of several Everlastings at once by sprouting arms to crack bones and strangle throats. Legs sprouted out of the ground now and then, offering a very awkward visual of quick and solid kicks which were leaving men on their knees clutching their groins.

No move was being made to invade the East Wing yet, but Zoro could see in their faces that they were positive they would win if the status quo didn't change quickly.

Everlastings from both sides were bleeding silver and throwing elements with little or no aim behind them. They were disappearing, reappearing, hovering and diving into the melee from above. Some were running across the lobby or trying to find their way to the edges of the cacophony where there was room to really lash out. Some were just trying to regain a sense of foundation by steering clear of the more dangerous haphazardly thrown elemental attacks. Bon Clay and D'jango were darting around in the air, acting as shields for the East Wingers and deflecting attacks back toward the other side. The riotous appearance made attributing individual attacks with individual people impossible.

In fact, Zoro couldn't keep any one person in sight at all for more than a few seconds. While brightness levels varied, they were all still washed out and emitting the same color glow, and almost everyone was in constant motion. Everlastings' translucency allowed Zoro to see all the attacks firing among them, but it also made distinguishing one form from the immediately surrounding bodies impossible unless someone stopped moving.

_What I'm seeing couldn't possibly get any more surreal than it is right now_, Zoro thought.

And then the thunder sounded.

Few people have the honor of seeing an indoor rainstorm in their lifetime. On the Improbability Scale of Rare Miracles it ranks extraordinarily low, right between showers of frogs and cold lightning. But Zoro became a privileged witness when somebody down there whipped one up Johnny-on-the-spot, complete with the occasional rolling rumble that reverberated through the floor beneath his feet. Zoro glanced up the stairs to the third floor hallway to see if the noise had drawn Sanji out of bed yet.

He crossed his fingers that both his cousin and sister would be allowed to sleep through it all, even though he felt that it would be a little comforting to have Sanji with him. Zoro had abandoned the hope that the fight would end quickly, and settled instead on the hope that it would just end _in their favor_. But things weren't looking promising.

Usopp, Conis, and her father had all been squirreled away in the corner beneath the stairs, and Zoro could just make out a tangle of limp legs jutting out from under the balcony. He assumed this meant that the stairs were where in-the-way things of no interest were being shoved, because no one had any interest in looking their way. This was a fortunate break. If Luffy or Ace had to maneuver themselves to the balcony to protect an Outsider when protecting their own was proving difficult enough, Zoro suspected he'd have more to fear from the brothers' wrath than from the West Wingers when all was said and done.

On that note, Zoro still couldn't find Luffy. He suspected that neither could anyone else, or there would be some sort of reaction. He thought maybe a hush would fall, or the West Wingers would jump back or something, based on what he'd concluded from his own understandings. He still wasn't clear on why they feared Luffy the way they did, but despite numerous warnings and Luffy's own fear of himself, that curious part of him desperately hoped that tonight he'd get to find out.

Another thing that bothered him greatly was Crocodile. Zoro couldn't find him anywhere. His stomach bottomed out and breathing became impossible, because for all the turmoil Zoro had felt at the thought of seeing Crocodile again, NOT seeing him in the place where he was supposed to be was really damn scary.

Zoro ducked to the side and out of view as downstairs Brooke ran in his direction of the steps, shrieking like a banshee with his arms flung straight up in the air, being chased by what looked like a West Winger that had shape-shifted into a three-headed resemblance of Cerberus, the Greek hell hound. He doubled back quickly, however, upon realizing that he'd be too easy a target alone on the stairs, and placed his gamble, instead, upon the chance of getting lost in the safety in a chaotic crowd.

A few West Wingers who had no one else to fight with began to pick fights with each other, and soon no one was milling around bored anymore.

The fight that demanded the most attention, however, was the fight between Ace and his opponent, a bigger man whom Zoro had never seen, but was proving to be frighteningly strong. The two were locked in a battle with each other alone, and their fight was the most explosive on the floor. Only two East Wingers were near the battle, but there were too many enemies for them to stop and root for their captain. Some West Wingers, however, had formed a ring around the two and were cheering out a name over and over. It sounded like 'Lucy' or 'Lukie'. Zoro couldn't clearly make it out, nor did he really care, but watching the battle was like watching Ace get alternately stalked and mauled by a leopard in a black suit. The leopard-man, Zoro decided to call him, was swiping his hands out like a cat attacking another cat, and Zoro seriously suspected he had claws.

A line of fallen West Wingers lay strewn on the floor to the side of them, testifying that Ace had first had to relentlessly make his way past all of them in battle to get to the ringleader.

It was clear to Zoro straight away that Kaya had been spot on in her choice to get Luffy; this fight was one that had been going too intensely for too long, and while leopard-man was undoubtedly feeling the burn, no pun intended, Ace was unsteady on his feet and dizzy from blood loss. He was a mess.

Yet if he focused really hard on their voices, Zoro thought he could probably make out some of the things they saying because they weren't far from the stairs, and when they spoke to each other they were shouting over the rain.

Leopard man, Lucci, Zoro thought he was hearing the others call him now, was taunting Ace, that much Zoro could see in his body language. But he wasn't taunting him about the fight it seemed, which confused Zoro until he caught some of the words.

"You don't have to keep doing this, Ace. You know I don't want to fight you. Where is he?"

Ace stood up straight, wiping blood away from his lip and glaring through shining eyes. "You can't have him, Lucci."

Zoro got down lower. Were they talking about him?

"I can. And I will. It's only a matter of time, Ace."

"I thought Crocodile would have wanted you to save Luffy for him," Ace said.

Then he was gone and tears cut through Lucci's suit all over, and before silver stains could start bleeding through the funeral garb, Ace had gathered at Lucci's other side.

Lucci spun and swiped out with his claws, grazing Ace's chest, but failing to get a hold as Ace dodged left, and soon the two were ten feet apart again, crouched and glaring at each other.

"Crocodile!" Lucci snarled. "I don't give a shit what he wants! I came because I was promised a round with your brother. Now if you want to be taken down with him, I don't mind destroying you with him, but rest assured that I WILL fight the alleged strongest!"

"Alleged?"

"Where is he, Ace? Where have you hidden him?"

Zoro was wondering the same thing himself. He scanned the crowd again, but still found no a trace of his roommate. How long was this going to continue? And how could it possibly be that Luffy was more afraid of Crocodile than of this bloodthirsty psychopath that had crawled out of the woodwork?

It was at this time, however, that the atmosphere down below changed. Somehow, though Zoro didn't understand what was causing it, he could feel that the lines of power between the two fighters shifting. Ace straightened up as if his fatigue had melted away, and he didn't looked the least bit nervous anymore. If anything he looked relaxed and casual. He stood, crossed his arms, and smirked.

"Isn't it just like Crocodile to choose this method of fighting for a battle this big." He laughed and shook his head.

Zoro wondered if Ace had lost his mind. The questioning murmurs that spread through the crowd like peanut butter implied he wasn't alone.

"What do you mean?" Lucci asked, still crouched low.

"I mean he's using you to take care of the dirty work for him. He knows he isn't much of a physical fighter, aye, so he's using you to wear me down. And maybe even wear my little brother out a little bit, if you'd miraculously been able to defeat me."

Lucci was tensing his legs and shoulders and gnashing his teeth like a wild cyote about to pounce.

Ace shrugged. "Don't you see, Lucci? You're his bouncer. Nobody cares what you do or don't believe. You were never going to touch Luffy."

"Shut your mouth," Lucci growled low.

"Aye. You see?" Ace turned to the crowd around him. "All the knowledgeable grace of a deaf goat."

But something still confused Zoro. He was certain now that Ace had figured out long ago what was really going on. …No, Ace had probably known days ago that Crocodile would do this. But he'd let it happen anyway. He'd fought and he'd taking a lot of damage for it.

Why?

Other movement below grabbed his attention, and Zoro's eyes moved across the amassed Everlastings to catch it again. Since the rain had eased up and the one battle had gained rapt attention from all present, everyone had subconsciously moved out of their fighting positions, submitting to a silent truce until the finale had played out. Now, while West Wingers had their attentions held, all of the East Wingers were slipping through the crowd unnoticed and undisturbed. Zoro couldn't recognize all of them through the collection of translucent beings that had crowded together and frozen like dim fairy lights on a lawn, but he knew they were all East Wingers. One by one they made it around to Ace's 'side' of the room. Nami appeared to be waving them out and over to her, and Zoro smiled despite himself. Nami was smart, he thought, and was probably using Ace's distraction to figure out a plan.

When she limped out, Zoro spotted Kaya right away. She was looking around, and he knew who she was searching for. It had to be difficult down there when in the middle of all those transparent beings to make out an individual in the crowd, what with being able to see what might be a random arm through somebody's head through another person's middle from twelve feet away. Line up that mess and it would be a miracle to recognize anybody at all. But now that she was out of the crowd, Kaya was discovering what Zoro already knew; Luffy hadn't followed her downstairs.

"You will not win this battle," Lucci hissed. "You have used too much power. You can't protect him forever."

"Aye, it is true that I've wasted more energy than I wanted to on you. But you aren't going to touch him."

Lucci growled, then a strange thing happened. His eyes glinted, but not with anger. He tried to hide it, but that other emotion won out, and he traded in his growls for a smirk. Then he rose casually himself, emulating Ace's body language.

He swung his head back, tossing his hair over his shoulders, and then met Ace's eyes evenly.

"You're right, Ace. I'm not going to touch him. In fact, you're right about a lot of things. You were right when you said that I was never meant to touch him in this battle right now. You're right about me being here to waste your powers on. But you're wrong to think that I didn't already know it."

Ace's jaw clenched. Behind him, the East Wingers looked at each other nervously.

"You are a child. Even after nearly a century here, you're still a child. And easier to play than you realize."

Zoro pushed himself up a little higher to see better.

Down below, Kaya whispered something to Nami, who started searching the crowd, too.

Lucci was still monologueing.

"Where do you think Crocodile is right now?"

Ace automatically glanced up at the balcony. His eyes widened a fraction. Zoro ducked out of sight, his back frozen to the wall in an instant.

_"Zoro?_" he heard in his mind before he'd even stopped moving. He wasn't sure if Ace's voice rang through his head on purpose, or if it had been reflex on the Everlasting's part.

Zoro's eyes fixed on the opposite wall, and he tried to keep his answer soft.

_"Ace? Do you hear me?"_

_"Aye. Stay very still."_

"What is your obsession with my brother really about?" Ace asked out loud.

Lucci's voice was calm and strong. "It's true. I've been looking forward to it for over thirty years, fighting him. Ever since I first heard the stories. Because you see," he lowered his voice, "I don't believe them. From what I've been told, several people had watched him in the weeks beforehand, and they tell about the little bits they observed, but the only person besides him who actually saw anything significant that happened that night…was you."

"And you think I'm lying?" Ace asked.

"I think something happened that you two want to keep secret, and you made up a story about some terrible power to keep anyone from guessing what really happened that night."

Zoro practically felt Ace's posture change. "Really. Any theories about what it is we're _allegedly_ hiding?"

"This doesn't work that way. I'm getting my answers now." Lucci spoke more softly. More dangerously. "Bring him out, Ace. The strongest one."

Then there was a deafening rumble and a huge blaze of heat filled the stairwell. Zoro twisted around in time to watch a comet-sized fireball fill his vision, and second later the whole far wall of the lobby had been blown into the rooms on the other side. Few Everlastings were left standing after Ace's ignition, and fewer picked themselves up again afterward.

Fire was burning everything in those rooms to cinders when Ace raised his arm and lowered it. The inferno reversed itself and everything that had fed the fire - all the furniture, lamps, paintings, small trinkets - became again what they once had been. As the energy reverted, the fire extinguished itself, literally reverting back to the oxygen it had been before. It was a more amazing, surreal display of alchemy than Zoro could have imagined.

He looked along with the everyone else at the huge pile of destruction left in the wake of Ace's attack where Lucci had been standing moments before. The wall had fallen into a massive pile of destruction that lay half in the lobby, half in the remains of the rooms on the other side.

A broken chunk of scaffolding was booted up and off a pile of plaster and collapsed beams. It hit the ground with a crash to reveal Lucci rolling and negotiating other things off of him, digging himself free of the debris. Through the faint cement cloud, Zoro saw him pull sharp bits of debris from his pierced chest and arms, but what held his attention were the rebar poles jutting out of his impaled shoulder and abdomen. Lucci didn't try to remove them. His chest heaved as he hefted himself free at last, and everyone watched him drop onto the floor. He immediately began favoring one foot and it was plain to see it had been utterly crushed. Zoro cringed in pain for him. His wounds would be pure torture for him until they healed. Lucci was lucky to be an Everlasting. Zoro suspected that a normal human being with that leg would surely never walk again.

Ace approached Lucci plainly, exhibiting no disconcerting slowness or overdramatic body language.

He was simply straightforward. That was how Ace rolled. And his presence was the biggest thing down there.

"Let us get this night over with."

Lucci growled, then roared out at all the spectators. "What the hell are you all lying around for? I want all of them as close to dead as you can make them!"

A cheer rose up after him, and the sounds of crackling electricity and whipping wind were permeated only by the stomping roll of an impromptu charge and shouts. A few names were shouted out.

Zoro's attention was divided for a moment, and in that moment, Lucci dispersed from the smoky rubble and Ace had to grab him before he finished gathering beside him to land another hit. Without the use of his legs, Lucci was changing his game up, and it was about that time that Ace couldn't keep his suspicions secret anymore and sought outside help.

Then Zoro felt a form of dread blew into him like a low whistle. A feeling of dread that didn't belong to him.

_"Zoro."_

Zoro hid behind the wall again, remembering he was supposed to be hiding.

_"I hear you."_

Ace's voice sounded calm, but the feeling that came with it betrayed his true fear. _"He's stalling me here. I know it, but I can't leave this right now. I can't leave them."_

Zoro took a deep breath. _"What do you need me to do?"_

_"Has Luffy spoken to you? Have you sensed him at all?"_

_"No."_

The dread washing into Zoro thickened.

"_Right_," Ace said. "_Right."_

He stopped projecting, and Zoro wondered if Ace was beginning to panic. Then his voice echoed through him again.

_"Right, listen to me. You need to get your family away from where they are. Hide them. Put them anywhere where it won't be so easy as now to find them. I don't know where Luffy is. I don't know where Crocodile is. And that…is bad. We need to stall for time."_

"_Stall for time until what_?" Zoro asked.

_"Until I can get there."_

There was a loud scream downstairs and Zoro tensed himself to keep from spinning out to see who the voice had belonged to.

_"It doesn't make sense for him to not be here. He can't achieve his goal unless they see him defeat Luffy and I, so why wouldn't he fight in front of them? Maybe…"_

Zoro had made it up the steps, trying to keep his pajama bottoms from swishing together as he ran down the narrow hall of offices that would dead end in thirty feet.

_"Maybe what?"_

_"He might be trying to gain their favor by leaving me for them to pick over together while he goes straight for Luffy. I mean, taking down Luffy will impress them whether they see it happen or not, so he could be. And if he's like Lucci… if he believes like Lucci about Luffy's power not being real…"_

While a mantra not his own began to whisper into his mind behind Ace's intentionally projected words, Zoro stopped running to peer around the corner into the pitch blackness of the third floor corridor. There was no noise. No motion. Nothing. This was where anyone had last seen Luffy, and now there was nothing. Hoping this wasn't a sign of an impending trend and his family, at least, would still be where he'd left _them_, Zoro zipped out into the open and bee-lined for his cousin's room ahead.

The need to find Luffy was stronger than any other at that moment-stronger than it had a right to be when compared to the safety of his sister-and Zoro forced it down because he knew that it wasn't all his. It felt like it was his, it really did. But though the mantra had stopped and the deep connection had been slackened, Zoro didn't think Ace had cut him off completely. He couldn't have, because those feelings were Ace's. They were so like to Zoro's own, but the fear of what would happen if he didn't get there soon-this life and death fear-that was Ace's fear, and the mantra had been haunting in desperation, just thoughts not meant to be heard by anyone, least of all Zoro: '_I need to find Luffy. I need to find him. You stay away from him, you son of a bitch. You fucking son of a bitch! Don't you dare touch him. I need to find Luffy. Luffy_.'

Ace wouldn't cut him off because right now Zoro was closer to Luffy than he was. He was inevitably going to run into one of the two MIAs, probably both, and when he did, Ace would be here in a blink. Right? That way Luffy wouldn't panic and lose control of his power, or use the one power that everyone feared. Because Ace had been scared. Because Luffy was afraid of it. Because Zoro had been warned by others and seen the signs of Luffy having an emotional fallout more than once, and it was only now registering that doing something of this magnitude shouldn't happen. It was ironic, Zoro thought as he glided down the corridor, how he'd wanted to see this power in action all night, but now that it might happen, he hoped Luffy wouldn't have to use it.

* * *

AN: **This story has been nominated for 8 awards in the One Piece 2008 fanfiction awards**! Thank you guys so much! I'm honored! Homecoming Hill is up for Best Ongoing Fanfiction, Best Fan-Novel, Best Alternate Universe, Best Original Portrayal of Characters, Best Luffy scene, Best Zoro scene, Best scene featuring a minor character (Ace), Best Supernatural, Best Drama, Most Intricate Plot, and Best Writing.

**But RUMBLE! has claimed 10 nominations!** My mind is boggling! That's the most you can recieve, and each story in a category has to be nominated individually by 3 different people to get on the ballot. It's up for Best Romance, Best Fan-Novel, Best Comedy, Best Angst, Best Original Portrayal of Characters, Best Luffy Scene, Best Zoro scene, Best Sanji scene, Best Writing, and **Story of the Year** (a story must have been completed this year to earn this honor, but doesn't need to be a chapter fic) which blows my mind, because the most highly prized award given. Again, THANK YOU!

And I was nominated by over 20 fans for Best Author of 2008. That one really touches me, even if I don't win, this is so huge for me. I love you guys! I was so happy when I was emailed and informed. It was so unexpected. I didn't even know there _were_ annual OP awards.


	23. Someplace Distantly Sorta Like Safety

**Homecoming Hill**

23

_A Place That is Sort of a Little Bit Distantly Presumed to be Relatively Akin to Safety_

"Sanji!"

The door was opened softly, and Zoro hoped his hiss was loud enough for Sanji to hear. He was answered by he immediate rustling of sheets and springs of the mattress as Sanji, who must have been wide awake, sat up in the dark.

"Who's there?!" Sanji's voice shook back.

"Shhh! It's me, you idiot. Things are going down, we've got to move."

"Tonight? For real? I thought we agreed to stay. What happened?"

"Wha-? No. We're not moving out of the house, just away from our rooms. We've got to hide."

"Hide from what?" Sanji's voice was hesitant and unsure. "Is something coming? You said we were safe in this wing."

"We were safe in this wing. I mean, we are. Probably. Ace wants us to hide, just as a precaution."

"Oh, Geezus," Sanji muttered, starting to wrestle with his bed. Zoro suspected Usopp had tucked him in like a burrito to keep him from wandering downstairs when he'd left. "We're going to die, aren't we?"

"We're not going to die!" Zoro answered, hoping he was right. "Drama queen."

"Lay offa me! You know how I feel about supernatural ghost stuff! What's going on? Did they fight? Did we lose?" The thumps of Sanji rolling out of bed turned into the thumps of him presumably crashing into Usopp's Seussical furniture as he tried to cross the room. "Turn on a light!"

"I can't, they aren't working."

"They stopped now?!"

Zoro wasn't about to have a talk about spiritual energy conversion while they were running for their lives.

"Just move as fast as you can. And don't make noise."

"Zoro!"

"Sanji!"

"Shit." Based on Sanji's tone, he either understood the possible magnitude of the situation and was getting scared, or he was pissed at the cards life had dealt him and wanted to move to California. So long as he was moving, Zoro didn't care which it was.

"I'm going ahead."

"_Wait for me_! I'm almost there," Sanji cried out.

"Meet me outside Kuina's room."

"_Zoro_!"

_Fear over anger, then_, Zoro noted as he moved toward Nami's room.

The dark did him no favors and he ran his hand along the opposite wall, counting doors as he went. He was leaning more heavily than he thought, and when the wall gave way to his gaping doorway he fell on the bedroom floor. He kicked the wall as he went down, caught himself on his hands, and froze, eyes wide in the dark, all senses finely attuned. The blood rushing through his ears made it hard to hear anything else. Zoro heard thumping sounds in the dark, saw light and fires on the edge of his vision. Everything was moving!

…Luffy was playing a trick. Teaching Zoro a lesson by scaring him half to death in the dark for endangering himself, running out of the East Wing in the middle of the fight, and for being an idiot. It was damn well working!

Except that it wasn't. Luffy would never have done something like that. He hated doing unto others things that he himself would loathe. But oh, how Zoro wished it was, because that would have meant Luffy was _there_. But it was nothing. He was scaring himself and all the lights and sounds were him, his own imagination trying to give him a stroke.

Zoro wiped his eyes and fought a few waves of fear-induced nausea as he forced his chest to expand and collapse. He kept telling himself it would be better not to find Luffy until his family was safe, but he wanted his best friend there so badly! After a ten count (in which it clicked that in his mind Luffy was the person he was closest to, and this thought gave him peace. It also made him wonder again what Shanks had meant when he'd said he could never 'have Luffy the way he wanted to'. Shanks must have dug into his mind and seen something that Zoro hadn't. Was there something important about Luffy that Zoro was missing? Why did everyone on the Hill speak in riddles?!) he pushed and stumbled his way to his feet, listening hard, but there was nothing. He couldn't even hear Sanji, and he started to get a strong feeling that they were going to bump into each other in the dark in a few seconds and scare the hell out of each other. He needn't have worried.

Before Zoro had gotten back into the corridor, a dull slam accompanied by crude swearing in the dark told him that Sanji had tripped over the broken door on the floor and fallen on top of it.

"OW! Sonnova-!"

"Shhh!"

"What the fuck is a crap-thing doing in the… what is this?"

Sanji hissed in pain and rolled himself off the door, which, half-supported by the handle in its hole, rocked back and forth on one side. Creaks and cracks of wood accompanied the faint knocks of Sanji's knees and knuckles sounded out.

"Sanji! Jesus! Shut up, will ya?"

"You shut up, crap-head. I didn't put this damn thing on the floor."

The doorknob broke loose of its hole and made the door whump to the floor.

Zoro groaned, shot a glare in Sanji's assumed direction, and passed him up on his way to Kuina's door.

It opened without a problem, which concerned Zoro as much as it relieved him, and he went in, feeling his way to the bed.

"Kuina? Hey, Sprite?"

He stooped and ran his hands over the blankets, searching for her form.

The lump burrowed deep in the bed managed a sleepy grunt of displeasure and didn't move.

"Kuina."

He shook her, and she moaned and rolled to her side. "Wha--?"

"Hi Sprite. We've gotta get up, okay?"

"Mn…Now?"

"Yeah. Remember how I told you about the bad ghosts in the West Wing?"

Kuina dragged herself to sit up as quickly as she could, then held her head as a dizzy spell hit her. "What's wrong with the ghosts?"

"They might be coming over here into this wing. The good ones from our wing are fighting with them downstairs, but some might get past them."

Kuina pushed the blankets down and scootched out of bed.

"But why did the good ones leave?"

"They need to fight the bad ones because they were trying to get into this wing," Zoro repeated.

"So who's here?"

"No one right now. Just us. And maybe Luffy. Remember, Luffy is the one who shares a room with me?"

"Ace's brother," she confirmed. "And Ace is the leader."

"That's right."

"What time is it?" Her muzzy voice reflected her alertness.

"The middle of the night."

"You got her?" A new voice whispered from the doorway they were going to.

"Sanji?"

"Yeah, it's me sweetheart. Are you feeling better?"

"Mm-mm," she mumbled, shaking her head.

Zoro felt her sway on her feet and picked her up. She draped her arms around his shoulders and let her feet just dangle.

"Her fever's worse," Zoro said. "Damn, she's burning up."

No wonder she was barely coherent.

"Should we really run around with her, then?"

"We don't have a choice, Sanji. We can't leave her alone."

"I'm not staying behind," Kuina mumbled into Zoro's neck. "I'm coming with you."

"I know you are," Zoro assured as they went into the hallway. "Come on. And you try not to talk, okay?"

"'m fine."

"Yes, but we need to be quiet."

"mmkay..."

Zoro felt Sanji's hand on his arm.

"What are we going?" Sanji asked.

Zoro hefted Kuina higher in his arms and thought.

"Ace's room?"

"Bad idea. Ace's room might feel safe to you, and Ares knows I don't fancy running into strange rooms in the dark, but if Ace is the top tamale, won't they look there first?"

"…Yeah. yeah, you're right. But what other rooms to we know well enough to get to?"

"The theatre?"

"…That could work. It's downstairs."

"Look, regardless of where we're going, we need to get moving, because we're standing in the middle of a corridor by the stairs and I can hear them down there. I'm inventing a new motto: if we can hear what they're blowing up, we're standing too close."

"Right. So downstairs."

The pair began running, Zoro carrying Kuina against him.

Almost to the steps at the far end of a corridor from the lobby, Zoro twisted to hiss in Sanji's general direction: "But if they go into the theatre, there won't be anyplace for us to hide."

"So we need obstacles, then?"

"I guess."

"You guess?" Sanji snorted. "Well, if you guess then it must be a perfect plan."

"I'd suggest your room with all of Usopp's crap in there, but it's too obvious."

Sanji slowed down when he felt that they were probably getting close to the spiral staircase. "But there is another place full of strange furniture like what's in my room."

Zoro thought for a second. "Usopp's workshop? …I suppose that would work. It's better than nothing, anyway."

"But I don't remember where it is in the dark."

"That's because you're useless," Zoro informed. "But that's fine. I know how to get there."

Sanji groaned. "Maybe I should tie some string to the banister that we'll be able to follow back to point A."  
"It'll be fine!" Zoro snarled back, sick of his cousin's age-old jokes. "This wing has hardly a complicated layout. How the hell could anyone get lost going downstairs?"

"We'll know in a minute."

Zoro made a face at Sanji that Sanji couldn't see, and the two felt out and descended the staircase carefully, one hand on the railing the whole time. When they reached the right floor, Sanji had to jog to keep up with Zoro, who could be heard shuffling quickly along with Kuina, seemingly aiming straight for a predetermined place of destination. Both of the boys ran a hand along the wall, counting doors and feeling for hallways. They took the first right, then another right.

"Here it is." Zoro stopped in front of a door.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, it's not like we'll be able to see from out here."

"Or at all," Sanji grumbled. "I'll go in first. I sort of remember where different things were placed. We'll have to do some climbing if this is the right place."

He turned the knob and slowly let the door swing open. It was quiet inside. And still dark.

"So I guess no one's in there," Zoro whispered after Sanji, who had crept into the room already. "That's good news."

Sanji didn't answer.

Zoro leaned forward a little in the dark. "Sanji?"

There came a thunk and a creak accompanied a growled "Ow!" followed by a "Damn it!" and a crash and a tiny rumble as something small with wheels was probably kicked to roll across the room.

"What happened?"

"You found us a nursery. In-fuckin-credible."

"What? No I didn't."

"I just tripped over a truck and fell onto a crib!"

"SHH! Don't shout! You're going to get us found! Now that we're here let's just stay put. No one will look for us in a nursery."

"Like there's actually a truly safe place in here at all," Sanji quipped quietly. "Why don't we just go outside?"

"Into the rain?"

The crashing sound of splitting wood came through the ceiling nearby, muffled by the infrastructure. The two men felt their blood run cold even as the beating pulse of it rushing through their ears pressed in on them. They looked above though they could see naught through the blackness, and heard haunting thumps, crashes, and slams overhead. Sounds that a ghost hunter would think were a restless spirit playing around, or an angry poltergeist taking his tortured imprisonment out on objects.

Sanji's breathing was audible, and Zoro was glad again that his cousin knew of the Everlastings, because Sanji otherwise would have surely gone upstairs looking for Sydian.

"If you can find a window that's not boarded up, be my guest," Zoro whispered to Sanji.

"There are lots of doors that aren't boarded." Sanji pushed past him out the door. "My turn to lead."

Zoro frowned and followed. Kuina moved around a little.

"My room has a door," he shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned and strong in front of her.

"Which we just left behind. Are we really in danger or not? Because I'd really love to know."

Sanji began opening doors on the outer side of the corridor, then closing them again. He made little noise, but it echoed in the darkness.

Zoro shifted Kuina. "What are you--"

"Here." Sanji's voice dipped into one of the rooms, and Zoro looked inside to behold light from the door on the far wall. It was dark outside, but there was enough light to illuminate the outline of the furniture that Sanji zipped past to get to the door.

He tried the knob. It was locked. Backed up a couple steps.

Zoro frowned. Had Sanji thought it would actually open for them? Of course it--

Zoro jumped at the sound of Sanji bringing his foot down on the knob hard enough to _break it off the door_ and looked around, half expecting Crocodile to Gather in front of him right at that very second and obliterate all three of them. It didn't happen. Where was Crocodile that he didn't notice Sanji crash his way out of the mansion?

"Zoro, what are you doing? Come on."

Zoro turned back to the room and rushed through to the now forced-open door. Cold, wet air flooded through the opening to the outside world, but Sanji was already on the balcony despite it.

"It's freezing out here! Crap storm! Get her something warmer to wear. There are stairs, but they aren't under the roof." Sanji pointed above them to where the balcony to a third floor bedroom served to shelter the second floor balcony they were standing on.

"Here. Take her," Zoro said, and passed Kuina over. She shivered, cried a little, and hugged Sanji as though trying to leech his heat away from him.

Zoro ran back inside the room, now paying attention to what was in it. It looked like storage. There was no theme, or sign that anyone had ever inhabited it, but boxes were stacked up in the corners, things spilling out of a few that had toppled over, and anything to big to fit into a box was crammed aside on the floor to make a walkway. Two bare spring mattresses leaned up against a wall behind ironing boards and wash basins full of sheets and towels. Empty bed frames, dress maker's dummies, and paintings that were possibly quite lovely stood wherever there was room, and still more half-opened boxes were piled around them. Zoro fidgeted back and forth, scanning the darkness for anything that would stand out as useful before plunging over some boxes to pull a comforter off an unused coffee table and bring it back, tripping over a chair leg on the way.

"Here," he said, folding it in two and wrapping it around both Kuina and Sanji.

"Would you be able to get her someplace warmer, Sanji?"

Sanji looked out over the vines below. They were near the front of the house, which would have been a relief if Zoro had bothered to stop and think about it.

"We could try to get to Shanks if he's still in the courtyard. That's all I can think of. You're the one who knows these people."

"I don't know anybody out here. Only Shanks."

Zoro leaned over the edge of the railing and looked at the mud sliding down the embankment. "I don't think it's solid enough, but you can't stay here all night."

"You can carry her. I'll lead."

Zoro turned.

"I can't! I've gotta go back in there."

"What?! Why?"

Zoro squeezed the rail. "I need to find Luffy."

"What for?"

"I have a bad feeling."

"About Luffy? He's a ghost; he'll be fine."

"He's not a ghost…"

"What are you going to do?" Sanji asked, hefting Kuina higher and adjusting the quilt around her. "Zoro, you have a little girl to raise. You and I are basically all she has, so we can't risk her _or_ ourselves. I know we need to help them--I _want_ to help! But you can't let that put them before us."

"I'm not! I made sure to get you two safe first. And I know the conditions aren't optimal, but it's all we can do. And really it was you who thought to come out here, so you don't need me. You've got this."

"Zoro, you can't go back in there," Kuina pushed away from Sanji a little to look at her brother. "You can't. What if you get hurt?"

Zoro ran his hand over Kuina's head. "I'll be careful, Sprite. I won't go where it's too dangerous."

"You already have. What if you get taken hostage?" Sanji asked practically.

Zoro looked at the broken door, that was likely to fix itself any moment and seal them outside until they decided to break back in again.

"Busy night, isn't it?" someone who was floating several feet from the balcony shouted at them.

The three Outsiders looked sharply toward the new voice, and Zoro saw salvation.

"Aye," he shouted back at the form, smiling. "We were just talking about you."

"Didn't sound like it," Shanks hollered back. He looked warily at the door to the mansion that swung on its hinges, incapable of fully closing. "I heard my boy's name. What are you doing out here?"

"What?!" Sanji shouted back.

Shanks held up a finger and drifted to the staircase, landing on nearly the bottom step before beckoning them closer.

The cousins looked at each other, then made their way down, Sanji hefting Kuina higher again. Thanks to Shanks, no rain fell on them, and it got warmer the closer they got to him until they stopped a couple steps away.

"Why didn't you just land on the balcony?" Sanji grumbled, only half-caring for an answer.

Shanks didn't give him one. "What are you doing out here?" he repeated instead, taking in Sanji's freckled pajamas. "You broke a door down…"

"Sorry there. I'll fix it later," Sanji responded.

"You won't need to," Shanks said, touching the blanket wrapped around Kuina.

"It should fix itself any second. It just hasn't noticed yet."

"It?"

"What's wrong with the little girl?"

"I don't know, exactly," Zoro said. "She's got a fever. She shouldn't be outside, but we had to bring her someplace safe."

"So you chose out here," Shanks said, to clarify.

"Yeah…" Zoro said slowly. "Though when you say it like that it doesn't sound as much like a great idea as it did a minute ago…"

"What are you running away from?"

"There's a war waging inside," Sanji answered. "And this idiot wants to go back in to hunt for his roommate."

Shanks turned to Zoro, brows drawn up in interest. "Does he?"

Zoro swallowed.

"So that's what happened…" Shanks said to himself. He looked up. "Then it has to be really rough in there. I know there's been at least one Real Death tonight. They mean business if they're throwing people out of the mansion."

"You saw?"

"Hard to miss a show like that."

Shanks looked into Zoro eyes and held his gaze. "And you think you can go back in and make a difference in the middle of a war that's being fought, let's face it, on a different front than you can hope to touch?"

Zoro tried to shift his eyes from Shanks' but found he couldn't. "I don't know. No. But I need to find Luffy."

"Why Luffy?"

"Because he's in trouble. This evil guy is looking for him and he's alone, and Ace can't get to him because he's already fighting. He shouldn't have to be on his own."

Shanks looked very serious. "You understand you might make things harder for him? He'll need to protect you."

"I won't hinder him. And I won't let him suffer for me."

Shanks' expression remained hard. "You might not have a choice, aye?"

Zoro shifted from one foot to the other.

"What would you do if you found him?" Shanks asked.

"Stay near him." Zoro's quiet words were lost to the storm, but he continued anyway. "I can guide Ace to him. Bring him help. But mostly just…stay."

Shanks looked out over the vines and disengaged from the conversation, contemplating.

Zoro looked at Kuina, curled and flopped in Sanji's arms under the comforter.

"This is something I need to do," he said, looking at Sanji in resolve. "There is no other option for me."

"You're choosing not to have any other option," Sanji accused.

"Well," Shanks said, "If that's your only option, you'd better take it," he said.

"Are you serious?" Sanji exploded.

"If this is truly the way it is," Shanks said, and turned back to Zoro. "Aye?"

Zoro nodded, met Sanji's worried eyes, then turned and ran back up the steps.

"You'd better not be gone long. Seriously, I'm gonna be pissed if you take your crap-time coming back after this is over."

"I'll see you as soon as I can," Zoro shouted over his shoulder.

"Damn right," Sanji grumbled unhappily. He shifted Kuina in his arms to prepare for whatever Shanks had in mind to get them down.

Zoro paused at the door, pretending to have trouble with it. "_If I don't come back out for any reason_," he thought at Shanks, "_take care of my family for me, okay_?"

"_Same to you_," Shanks thought back.

And then Zoro disappeared into the mansion.

"You think this is a safe idea?" Sanji questioned over the storm.

"No," Shanks answered. "But if we always avoided the unknown and stuck to the safe paths, life wouldn't be much of an adventure, would it?"

"……You've been on this Hill for too long."

"On the contrary, young Sanji. I believe I see more of the big picture here than you do."

---------

Zoro felt his way down the corridor, seeking the stairs in the blackness that closed in around him and made him feel watched. He forced fear from his mind, knowing it would be foolish to be nonchalant, but impairing to be terrified. There were no sounds he could detect, and he hoped his friends were holding out in the foyer.

Still, he listened and felt for signs of Luffy.

"Ace," he thought out, focusing hard on the intended recipient.

"Zoro?" Ace's tired thought came back.

"Is Luffy out there yet?"

"Nay…" Ace thought, giving Zoro his half-attention. "Nor is Crocodile. A couple others from their side dispersed and are gone, too, but they were wounded. Brooke chased after them."

Zoro clenched the rail. Damn it.

"I'm going to search for him. My family's safe outside."

"Nay!" Now Ace was focused. "_Don't_ go look for him. You need to get out of here. Now."

"Too late," Zoro answered, ascending the steps before Ace got the change to break away from his fight quick and stop him. "I'm too far in already."

"God damn it Zoro!"

"I'll let you know when I find him."

Ace's emotions ran pissed-off through Zoro, but he either chose not to argue, or something stopped him.

Pushing Ace from his mind, Zoro listened. The wing was cold. Colder than it had been. And still. He considered a course of action. He'd heard the sounds on this floor. He could start anywhere, but opening door after door would waste too much time.

Luffy not appearing now meant that he hadn't gone back to their room yet to find it empty.

Deciding it would be an act of lunacy to seriously want to find someone and not look first in the places where that person was most likely to be, Zoro made for Ace's room.

He was five doors away when the clank sounded, and he spun around to see behind him. There was nothing, but after a moment the clank came again, and a shuffling sound in the next corridor over followed it. The temperature dropped stunningly, then went up a little and held. But no one was there. No one was appearing, and no distinct presence was detectable.

Was he in a nightmare from Crocodile? Had he somehow been snared by one of the West Wingers into a twisted little game? The only certainty he had was that now, at that moment, he felt like a tourist in a 'haunted' house. Hearing bangs and footsteps, feeling nonexistent drafts, and being treated in general not as special, but as a ghost hunter--an oft mocked paranormal investigator.

Things looked bad. He felt he was being toyed with and perhaps threatened.

He turned and ran the rest of the way, wanting to feel sheltered, though he knew he shouldn't expect it.

He was surprised when open Ace's door opened easily to reveal a room full of light, and Franky propped up in a chair with a book.

"What the--!!" Franky asked as Zoro all but exploded into the room. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh…" Zoro said stupidly, eyes darting around as if expecting lighting to shoot from the corners at him. It didn't happen, but the door slammed shut on its own behind him.

"Hey bloke!"

"What?" Zoro said, finally looking at Franky.

"Is something chasing you?"

Chopper sat up at the end of the bed, forgetting his toy cars.

"I don't know," Zoro walked forward into the room. "I think so. Maybe. Is Luffy here? Has he been here?"

Franky set the book on a the table. "Haven't seen him. Isn't he with the others?"

"Kaya came to get him over half and hour ago, and he left behind her, but he never showed downstairs. Neither has Crocodile."

"Shit."

"And now Ace is telling me more West Wingers have made their way around them and into our wing."

"They're coming here?" Chopper cried.

"I knew I should have fought down there anyway. Injury be damned," Franky growled.

"Can you fight now?" Zoro asked, honestly curious.

"I can do more than I have been," Franky said. "Fat lot of good being in here does."

"Why are you in here anyway? Isn't this the first place Crocodile will look to find Luffy?"

"Crocodile never showing downstairs wasn't part of the plan. But I suppose he would come here quick if he could get in, but he wouldn't waste his time out in the open. You'd have sensed him."

Zoro looked stupid. "What do you mean 'if he could get in'?"

"This is our haven, Zoro. Ace erected a barrier around the room that's stronger than Crocodile is."

"Well how come I could get in then?"

"You've always been able to get in. This barrier is always here, Zoro, as long as Ace is strong enough to support it. It hasn't come down in decades. Anyway, why would Ace block _you_ out? And if the West Wingers are coming, why didn't you bring your family here with you? And why is Ace talking to you and not me?"

"D'ya know if they're okay?" Chopper asked.

But Zoro was thinking.

"Zoro?" Franky said. "Hello?"

"They're holding on. I snuck downstairs to watch after Luffy left, and Ace got telepathic with me there." Zoro walked to the bed and put a hand on Chopper's head. "He also creamed some guy called Lucci that seemed to be the strongest one there. My family's outside because I thought this room would be the most dangerous room in the wing since the bad guys know all about it."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Because I'm not looking for safety, I'm looking for Luffy. I thought Crocodile might come here looking for him."

Franky stared at him. "So…you ran in here because you thought it was dangerous?"

"To find an endangered person, you have to be willing to endanger yourself," Zoro answered.

"Didjya see Usopp?" Chopper asked, taking his hand.

Zoro hesitated.

"It's okay," Chopper said. "You can say."

"Okay. Usopp went down early, but that might be lucky for him."

Chopper looked at the comforter and slumped forward. "I wish Ace had lemme go."

"So why don't you go now? If you can fight, that is."

Chopper shook his head. "Because Ace says if I get hurt, then I won't be able to help heal everyone after, and no one else can do it like I can."

"Chopper has amazing restorative powers. The strongest here," Franky said. But Zoro wasn't paying attention to him. "…What are you thinking now?"

Zoro was looking at the door, ready to spring for it. "I came back to find Luffy. And if he's not here, I need to go."

"You just said that something was chasing you out there!"

"Luffy is missing, Franky. Luffy! I'm not talking about just some random person whom no one will miss. The strongest person on this Hill, our friend has disappeared!"

"WHOA there!" Franky shot up, squeezing his hand to his injured side.

"Franky, don't!" Chopper shouted.

Franky ignored him and glared at Zoro. "Do NOT go around and start saying that when you run into people. Things are in enough of a panic right now without a rumor like that going loose in the house." Franky gestured his free around in the air wildly. "He's missing. MIA, whatever. But he is NOT gone, and he did NOT vanish. You're saying two different things entirely."

Zoro had taken several steps back. Franky was breathing heavily and clutching his side harder. It was bleeding again, but he was shining so brightly it was hard to tell.

Franky took a few deep breaths and sat back down. "Shit, didn't mean to do that. Was almost healed, too."

"Now I hafta fix you! You were doing so well!" Chopper said.

"Ya, sorry. I didn't want you to use any of your power on me, since it wasn't that bad."

"_Didn't_?"

Zoro was surprised by Chopper's behaviour. When he'd first met him, Chopper had been sweet and a little shy--a really cute kid. But in this serious situation he had fallen into a role that was decidedly his own in this wing, and Zoro could see that, despite the baby lisp, he was a remarkably smart child.

Franky sighed and bowed his head. "The situation has changed. Luffy didn't just go for a stroll around the manor, nor would he have been snuck up on. So Chopper? Would you mind please?"

Chopped knelt beside Franky. He lighted with a glow and Zoro watched Franky's wound begin healing.

"You're going to help me?" Zoro asked.

Franky snorted. "I'm not gonna get you to stay here while I go, and you're useless in the dark on your own, so yeah. We're going to go find him and see what's going on."

"Ace'll get pissed that I dragged you into this," Zoro said almost warningly. "You were supposed to rest."

"Well, Ace isn't here to make the calls, so he'll just have to accept ours." He hissed in pain and looked down at Chopper's work.

"I'm almost done," Chopper informed.

"Okay. Luffy's not here, and honestly I didn't know where I was going to go next, so where would be the best place to start looking for him?" Zoro asked.

"Wherever we hear noise first. There are several people up here now, if Ace is right, and we'll probably get swept up in their fiasco as soon as we step out there."

"Stop moving around so I can finish," Chopper said.

Franky went back to watching Chopper's progress and lifted his shirt a little higher for him to see.

"A minute ago you said that Luffy couldn't have been snuck up on," Zoro said, leaning on a chair impatiently. "Do you think that Luffy maybe allowed himself to be approached?"

"When was it decided anyone was approached at all? Croc's MIA at the same time, but in truth you have no idea why Luffy became a no-show."

"Ace thinks that Luffy's already in trouble, too. I mean, he didn't say that, but I could feel it through our telepathy."

"Ace is paranoid. He's a great guy--responsible, friendly, strong--but he's paranoid."

"But he'd know about this, wouldn't he? I mean, this is his brother we're talking about."

"So he's _really_ paranoid."

"Lucci said Crocodile was looking for him while the rest of them were fighting. And a few minutes ago I heard lots of bangs through the downstairs ceiling. Sounded like a struggle. But it was quiet when I came back up."

Franky sighed and ran a hand over his ever-styled hair. He was quiet for a while before be spoke. "If Crocodile really did attack Luffy… it won't last long. If he was really so stupid as to…" He looked up at Zoro. "Do they want to torture him into a meltdown?"

"There are easier ways for them to put themselves out of their misery, aren't there?" Chopper asked.

Franky looked at him curiously. "Luffy can't kill them, Chopper. Just make their existence a living hell. Hasn't anyone told you about it?"

"It isn't talked about!" Chopper exclaimed. "Because I'm little no one tells me things."

"Lucci told Ace…" Zoro interrupted, "…he told all of them that he didn't believe what happened in 1969. He said something like since no one else was there to back it up, and it's pretty much just the brothers' words, he doesn't think that whatever happened really happened."

"That's bullshit! Excuse me, Chopper."

"Hear it alla time. Just don't yellit at me," the child said.

"There is no way what we were told was a lie! Why would they lie about it? How else can anyone explain what happened to Usopp?! What the hell are they blaming that on, the Quakes?!" Franky threw his hands up in the air. "Lucci's lost his damn mind. And he wasn't here for it, anyway. There's a reason they've targeted Luffy for so long: he's a threat to them. They have a good reason to fear him, Zoro. And if it actually comes down to that again tonight, then so do we. Because if they've decided to challenge him because they're questioning that power, then this place isn't going to be the same ever again. So we don't time to sit and chat!"

Zoro didn't press the matter forward, keeping to himself Lucci's theory of the brothers' story being a cover-up.

"All set," Chopper said.

"You ready?" Franky asked, standing and pulling his shirt down.

"Yeah," Zoro answered, leading the way.

Zoro opened the door in time for Brooke to come careening through it waving his arms around dramatically.

"I lost them!" he shrieked, running to Franky and very nearly trampling Zoro on the way.

Zoro poked his head into the corridor, saw nothing, decided that was lucky and closed the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Franky had to ask for the second time that night. "I feel like I'm stuck in a loop!"

"Ace said you were chasing the West Wingers," Zoro said.

"Yes!" Brooke said, bending over to catch his breath (even though he was dead). "I chased them to the best of my humble ability. But I couldn't find them, and I don't know what to do when I do find them, so I ran here!"

Franky's jaw dropped. "If you couldn't be useful then why did you come up here?!"

"I don't know!" Brooke cried. "It seemed like a good idea at the time!"

"This is a thing with you, isn't it?"

"They're here and I lost them! It was like they just vanished into thin air!"

"So more people are missing? Just what the hell is going on?" Franky screamed at no one in particular. "This is the third goddamned time this night. What is happening?!"

"Third?" Brooke trailed off to himself. He twirled to see everywhere and then stopped. "You haven't found Luffy yet? Or Sir Crocodile?"

"Don't call him that," Franky grumbled. "He's not a knight. He's just pompous."

"We're going to find Luffy now," Zoro told. "Are you in?"

Brooke cleaned his sunglasses that Zoro assumed he wore more for style or habit than for indoor UV protection.

"Yes," he said, putting them back on. "I shall accompany you and lend help with the greatest of my strength."

"Me too!" Chopper exclaimed.

The others looked at the little boy.

"You might need me! You might get hurt, and what if you don't find Luffy first?"

"That's why you shouldn't come," Brooke offered, smiling gently. "It will be enough that I'm running and screaming for help if that happens."

Franky looked dryly at him. "Maybe we should take the kid and leave you here."

"I'll follow you if you leave me here," Chopper threatened. "Zoro's going, and he can't do anything!"

Zoro didn't say anything, but Franky did.

"He's not wrong," he told the others. "We may need him. And anything's better than waiting here alone."

Chopper grinned the grin of a person whose just won a fight. The grin faltered when he remembered that now he had to face the black jaws of death. But it was still better than being lonely!

"Just remember we're conserving all the energy we can, so don't use power that would draw us attention, and don't disperse unless it's really necessary," Franky said.

"I'll try to keep it together," Zoro joked badly.

"Smart ass. Let's go."

Zoro picked up Chopper, Brooke opened the door, and the quartet stepped out into the dark corridor, lit only faintly by the Everlastings' natural glow, to find Luffy and fight everyone in their way.

* * *

AN: 7,000 words. I know some of you are tired and satisfied after reading all that, but if I managed to get you excited enough to have the energy to leave a review, that would be super. It may seem like I'm winding up to a climax, but this story is actually far from over. We WILL get Luffy back next chapter, though, and possibly the biggest question mark hanging over the story will be revealed! And this time when I say it's coming soon, I REALLY mean it. The next chapter has maybe 2 days of work on it, and I'm moving next weekend, so I'm getting it up before then for sure. My big resolution for all the voters who think maybe this story is worth the awards it was nominated for. :) Maybe it'll win, maybe not, either way, you voted for me, so I'm gonna show you how I appreciate it. I knew I should have waited to post Orbis Run until I finished this... But it was taking too long! :p


	24. Last Line of Defense

**Homecoming Hill**

**24**

_The Last Line of Defense_

A cricket would have missed them passing in the halls. Zoro could hear only his own bare footsteps on the carpet, and the soft swish of his pant legs against each other as he walked. Chopper rode still in his arms, hands latched around Zoro's neck tightly and legs clamped high in front and back. Brooke and Franky walked on either side of them, Franky slightly more in front and Brooke barely taking up the rear.

Together they made their way to where Zoro thought he had heard the earlier sounds of possible fighting, but as the walked, it was as Brooke had said; all traces of inhabitation other than their own were gone. The pressing cold and threatening auras that Zoro had sprinted into Ace's room to escape had gone. But there was still a tingle in the atmosphere suggesting they were being watched.

"Are you sure you heard it from this part of the wing, Zoro?"

"I thought I did," Zoro said helplessly, running his free hand through his hair.

"What did it sound like?" Chopper asked.

"It sounded like something breaking. Wood being hit hard, being smashed in. But it was muffled by the ceiling, so I can't be sure."

Franky nodded. "Let's keep looking around."

"It's hard to look at anything when it's completely dark," Zoro observed.

"Light is too risky. It just wastes power. We've had lots of light lately so you Outsiders are comfortable, but normally we don't light anything up at night. Sight is unreliable in this place. We depend on our abilities to sense what's around us."

Zoro adjusted Chopper in his arms. "That's the very thing Luffy said to me my second day here."

On either side of him, Brooke and Franky opened doors and peeked in, feeling for a presence, and stepped back with nothing.

"It's one of the lessons that he and Ace teach all new Everlastings, though it's just been Ace these last few decades," Franky murmured, moving to the next door.

"You make it sound like they run everyone through a basic training course," Zoro said to take his mind off his anxiety. He had the oddest feeling that they were being watched, though he could sense no presence around them.

Franky snorted, "It would feel like that, if they hadn't taught us as we adjusted to our new lives. It's natural to use too much power in a simple task at first, because power is new to us and we can't control it well yet. But since they work to teach us how to make the most of our starlight while we're first learning how to use it, then doing it the conservative way will always be the most natural to us, and overexertion doesn't become a habit. Ace and Luffy made it a point to learn as much as they could about using their powers in the early years when there were only a few others here, and then they taught us to learn from their mistakes so we wouldn't make them. It's how they would bond with people when they first arrived, so everyone looks up to them."

"That, and they're super strong and they protect us," Chopper added loudly.

"Shhh," Brooke shushed. "We mustn't be too noisy."

"We may as well be," Franky frowned. "We've opened every door. Whatever Zoro heard isn't here anymore. I think we should go downstairs. By going up they'd have backed themselves into a corner. There's nothing upstairs worth being near, unless they're getting sentimental about the bedrooms they abandoned ages ago."

He pushed past Zoro to lead again, and the rest followed him swiftly around two corners. Zoro looked behind them toward where his and Luffy's room was as they went the opposite way to the stairs.

_Luffy…_

"We shouldn't drop our guard," Chopper lectured. "Ace says alla time that we shouldn't do that."

"I don't understand where they could have gone to," Brooke said. "I wasn't that far behind them, and six people don't just disappear. Even here."

"Eight if you include Luffy and the Croc," Franky said. The twisted staircase wrapped around in the distance, and they approached it. "This is strange to me. Why did the small fry come here early if it wasn't to fight stragglers like us or get the Outsiders? They could have waited and come in later if they won, but instead they charge in here like Croc's wing men and then, except for being stupidly seen, do exactly what Croc and Luffy have done, so they obviously know something we don't."

"Maybe I should call Ace again, ask if anything's changed."

"Do that," Franky said, leading them single-file down the stairs. "I've been trying. He isn't answering me, but that might be because he just can't hear me. I don't have telepathy, so all I can do is hope he hears me."

"If you can't do telepathy, why can I?" Zoro asked. "I don't have any powers."

"Doesn't matter. Ace has telepathy, so he can hear you, and he can establish a link between you two, or even three or four of us if he wanted to. But alone we wouldn't be able to do anything. You said you could feel his feelings a little, right? That means Ace must have a channel open with you already, so he should hear you, no problem."

"A channel? As in what Luffy created when I first got here?"

"You've had one before? Aren't you popular."

"Ace told me they were involuntary and impossible to control."

As he spoke, Zoro focused on projecting his calls outside of himself. He felt empowered when he was heard, despite Franky words. But this time he got no answer.

"Ace?"

He felt pain, mild to him, but doubtlessly severe to Ace, and Zoro thought about how far apart they were. "Ace? Luffy?!"

Franky quirked a brow in the darkness, talking as if Zoro wasn't busy. "They are. Ace isn't channeling you on purpose. He's doubtlessly keeping track of you, which is kind of like a link, but his emotions and stress are strung tight, so thoughts and feelings that he's not meaning to share are leaking into it. Anyway, he's formed one."

They got quiet as they stepped off the stairs, sensing around for anyone besides each other. A sign, hint, clue, sound. But there was nothing, and they picked up the pace, opening and closing doors noisily, practically begging for something to come and investigate them if it would lead to answers.

Franky continued talking, and Zoro wondered if it wasn't just to keep the atmosphere from suffocating them. "But Luffy keeps at a distance so he won't accidentally channel with anyone. Channels aren't the same as simple telepathy. It would make him vulnerable to you, because you'd feel whatever he was feeling, and vice-versa. Luffy's too guarded. How could he have formed one with you?"

"He wasn't thinking about that at the time," Zoro said distractedly. He opened a door and barely glanced inside before closing it again.

"Perhaps they are part of a failsafe wave," Brooke suggested in a whisper, bringing the conversation back to the missing intruders. The three with power were no longer going into rooms, but Zoro could see them moving their hands now and then as if feeling for presences behind the doors without wasting the time. "A back up plan in case they don't win. They're hiding now to attack later when we're weak after fighting. Then once they've started their second attack, their comrades who have recovered can force their way into our wing while we're distracted, and act as a cavalry."

He grew quiet and felt out with his power again. They turned a corner and kept moving.

"A Trojan Horse attack without the horse?" Franky looked doubtful. "Maybe. But I can't swallow so many West Wingers acting in camaraderie at once."

"Ace isn't answering me," Zoro injected finally. "I can feel him, but it's like he's too distracted to hear me. Every few seconds I keep getting these little bursts of panic that come and go quick, and I know they don't belong to me because some of them have names attached. My heart has skipped beats over Nami like four times in the last two minutes."

"Mm," Brooke frowned. "It could perhaps be that he is unable to answer. Telepathy is not a gift for the weak, and every bit of power he uses is important now. I fear this battle is going to end very soon, and we have still not found our comrade."

"Luffy isn't answering either."

"Luffy can't hear you. You're channeled with Ace and it's blocking you," Franky informed.

"I used telepathy with a Dweller outside a few minutes ago."

"Of course you could. You were across the barrier. You couldn't feel Ace outside, could you? He must have had to find you again when you came back in." Franky walked faster. "Why did you have to say that before, Zoro? Now I'm worried about Nami."

"I'm worried about all of them," Chopper admitted tearfully. "What if something really, really does happen to one of them?"

Zoro pushed back Chopper's bangs. "Then we'll all get through it together. We aren't going to lose anyone and we're all going to take care of each other, because that's what we do, right?"

"Even you?"

"Even me."

Chopper hugged closer to Zoro's neck and nodded.

"But we need to find each other first," Franky intruded. "Luffy's not answering me, either. And I can't feel a damn thing." He stopped, frustrated.

"This isn't happening fast enough," Zoro said. "We should split up."

"If we split up and you get kidnapped, everything will hit the fan," Franky said.

"They need help down there. We need to move faster. You find anything, you shout for the others. And you should keep Chopper with you."

Chopper looked back and forth to the others while Zoro slid him down his hip to the floor and squatted beside him. "They'll target you for your power, right? They'll want to make you unable to help anyone. If you stay with me, I won't be able to protect you as well as they can, and I might need free hands."

"Kay," Chopper said, glancing around and squeezing his hands.

"Zoro!" Franky shouted.

But Zoro turned and ran down the hall. He knew the others were behind him, but they didn't prevent him from going, so he hoped they would go through with splitting up. He slowed to look over his shoulder and saw Brooke flash straight past the hall he'd turned down to finish checking that corridor. He didn't see Franky or Chopper, and guessed they'd gone down to the first floor ahead of them.

Rounding the next corner, Zoro began throwing open doors, one after the other, not bothering to close them when no one was behind them.

"Luffy!! Luffy, answer me!" He finished the whole hall and half the next corridor that way before he started throwing his thoughts out as hard as he could, not caring who heard or showed up as long as there was some evidence that the boy he was looking for was there.

"Where are you?!"

But nothing happened, and no one came. Zoro finished hunting the corridor in less than a minute, careful not to miss any doors in the dark, and then ran back to the hall, one hand on the wall to guide him, then around to where he knew the main staircase was. They'd used only the inner, twisting stairs thus far, and it obviously wasn't working. Zoro wasn't afraid to take the more dangerous route to find Luffy, and moving to the next floor via the main stairs would let him see how the battle was going. If he really was channeled with Ace, why was his every call going unanswered?

He approached the hall leading to the front stairs and slowed his walk to a quieter pace. He was risking enough without being stupid about it, and he didn't want to attract morass that would likely get him killed.

"You will not find anybody."

Zoro's heart leapt into his throat and then fell with a 'thunk' into his left foot when he twisted around at the top of the stairs and saw who was standing where he himself had been, ten feet ago.

"You will not find anybody," Luffy repeated, "because there's nobody here to find. And I won't let you get out of this wing again, Zoro. Nice job on our door, by the way."

Almost melting with relief, Zoro stumbled to Luffy, steps heavy with gratitude. He pulled Luffy into an enveloping hug without a word and felt his warmth. Luffy's body went rigid upon contact. His breath caught and his eyes grew wide and confused.

"Luffy!" Zoro let out expressively. "Geezus! We're searching the whole mansion for you! Where have you been?"

He pulled back slightly to push Luffy's hair away from his eyes, and made note of the precautious hint of longing he saw there. He looked the boy up and down once before meeting his eyes again, and any channel he'd had with Ace was broken.

"Are you okay, Luffy?"

"A-Aye…" Luffy whispered, nodding faintly.

When Zoro pulled him into a hug again, Luffy slowly relaxed into it. Zoro rubbed his back, and neither cared about time.

"Why are you looking for me?" Luffy asked quietly.

"Because no one knows what happened to you," Zoro said, giving him a squeeze. "You followed Kaya and then you were gone. You never made it downstairs."

"It was never my intention to go there. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Ace knows."

"Well, he's not acting like it."

"What?" Luffy laid his head absently on Zoro's shoulder as he puzzled over it. "I-I'm holding my line. He told me to."

"He couldn't find you anywhere."

"Of course not!"

"Zoro? Luffy!!" Brooke's voice came echoing down the corridor. Luffy pulled away, and Zoro let him go. The pair left the short hall to the stairs and reentered the corridor.

It appeared that Franky, Brooke, and Chopper had regrouped and returned when Zoro hadn't eventually followed downstairs after them, for all three of them were jogging toward them.

"You found him!" Chopper cheered.

"We're okay," Zoro assured.

The three came to a stop in front of them and Franky grabbed his side like it was still sore despite Chopper's healing. When he noticed he was doing it, he let go and straightened up. "What's happening?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Luffy quipped back.

"There's no one downstairs."

"Of course there's no one. What do you think I've been doing up here?" Luffy asked.

The others turned to him, and when Franky spoke, it was clear he was becoming more than exasperated at the whole situation. "That's a great question. What have you been doing?"

Luffy looked down passively. "I couldn't leave this wing empty and unprotected; there would be no safe place for anyone to return to. Their sheer numbers assure that they will continue to trickle up here during the fight. I am to pick off West Wingers as they come in, gradually evening our number to theirs without restricting any of them from leaving the battle. It's the last defensive line the enemy gets caught in, and tonight that line is me."

"…Is it working?" Brooke asked.

"Aye. They simply stray and don't return. It may look to the other West Wingers like they are succeeding in seeding here, which has thus far encouraged more of them to follow, while truly we have little to fear of a creeping invasion."

"That's… a good strategy," Brooke complimented.

Franky was not so intrigued. "If you've been picking the invaders off one by one, what have you been doing with them?"

"I've barricaded them in a fourth floor bedroom. They're not strong enough to break out of it, for I assure you it's of a much different quality than the one I used on our door, Zoro," he said with a sideways glance.

"So you've been here this whole time?" Franky gestured wildly. "You sensed us searching high and low, and you didn't come out."

"Aye," Luffy said simply.

"Aye, he says!"

"I'm doing as I was asked," Luffy insisted. "And Ace can't find me because I'm blocking him. I'm blocking everyone. If I drop it for some then others might sense me too…because it's hard to balance all the energy…"

"Yeah, it must suck to have so much power," Franky said sardonically.

"But what about now? You're communicating with us now."

"I'm blocking all of us now."

"YOHOHO!!!" Brooke exploded in surprise. "That's amazing!!"

"If Ace can find me, other telepaths can, too. Or they'll pick up scattered bits of our plan in moments we aren't focused. That would defeat the purpose."

"So you're saying you went into telepathy silence for cover," Franky finished. "I get it."

"But you didn't tell Ace you'd be blocking him, did you?" Zoro said. "No wonder he panicked when you weren't the only no-show."

"No show?" Luffy asked.

"I told you Ace is paranoid," Franky disregarded.

"He did have good reason to be," Brooke defended.

"He wouldn't have gotten this way over anyone else."

"Because Sir Crocodile isn't interested in anyone else."

"Drop the 'Sir'. And it was real super of Ace to mention the 'Luffy booby-trap' plan before he sent Zoro on this hunt," Franky finished sourly.

Zoro wasn't listening. He was talking to Luffy. "If you've been here guarding this whole time, how is it you haven't seen Crocodile?" Zoro asked. "He'd be hunting for you, right?

"What are you all talking about?"

"Crocodile is missing, too. That's why we're here; you never showed up, Crocodile never showed up, and then no one could sense you anymore."

Luffy's brows rose to accompany his bewildered head shake. "He's miss--? Well, he's not here!"

"Could he have covered his trace like you did?"

"Perhaps, but not as well as I. And not if he's planning to seriously engage in battle."

"But that's… that doesn't make any sense," Zoro said. "Lucci was getting Ace all worked up about Crocodile coming after you as they spoke."

Luffy frowned, crossed his arms, and looked down the corridor they hadn't lit up. "He lied," he said simply. "Or he's being lied to. If Crocodile were in this wing, I would know about it."

"So…" Brooke trailed along.

"Something's wrong. We need to go downstairs right now."

* * *

In Sanji's hindsight, Zoro's knack for befriending all the ghostly monsters with the strongest mad superpowers first was no longer as spooky nor freakish as it was convenient. Not only was he able to avoid a war by waiting outside in miraculous comfort under the circumstances, but no other single wraith-thing (the title he'd bestowed upon the Residents for that particular evening) had come to disturb them yet.

Sanji now sat within Shanks' barrier in the courtyard waiting for a sign from Zoro to come. Kuina, who had been upset to discover Zoro missing each time she slipped groggily into awareness, had fallen into a deep sleep when Shanks had asked to hold her. Giving her over had been a wary act, but their safety was all on Shanks anyway and he was exhausted of paranoia. Now his eyes were trained on the front door.

"You think he'll be okay?"

"People spend their whole lives hiding in the shallows because they fear the freedom of the deeper water's unknown. Be grateful your cousin isn't like that. He'll be the one to lead you."

"Lead us where?"

Shanks smiled and looked at the house, within whose walls a revolution was coming. "To whatever is coming," he said, and looked out at the tree line, beyond which a cluster of stones were glowing more brightly than ever before.

Sanji followed his gaze, and considered the shape he knew was out there. What sort of power was associated with animal imagery? Foxes were nearly always described as the shape-shifting tricksters of the animal kingdom, and raccoons were the granters of backfiring wishes most carefully made. But most animals represented different omens depending upon where on the globe they were. Ravens and crows were symbolic of death in European culture, but in Asian cultures the Raven was a sign of promising fortune to come. Bears were likewise a symbol of strength and mercilessness to several Native American tribes, but in other tribes as well as in Alaska, Canada, the bear was viewed as an exemplary model of love and compassion due to the devoted protectiveness of mothers to cubs. Germany had its deadly Red Ridinghood myths, while still more of the frozen countries acknowledged them for their loyalty.

What, then, was the specific shape of the stones selected to mean? Which animal, if any, was being depicted by the stones still buried beneath the dry creek bed? And why were they glowing now?

"Shanks?"

"Aye," Shanks said, relaxed.

"When did you guys first discover the shape out there behind the trees?"

"Oh," he said. "We didn't recognize it for what it was right away (and really it could be said that we still haven't) because of the aura the culvert exudes. My memory here is choppy because a lot was going on back then, but since we never just went down into the trench, I suppose someone must have taken first notice of the shape the day Nathaniel fell from the wall. He lost his grip climbing down, and came to join us minutes later with severe head trauma. Poor family never had a body to find. Their boy simply finished breakfast with his mother one morning and went outside to scout for a sturdy tree. He tells us he had hopes of building a fort in one with his father in the weekends to come. Instead his mother from then on cried herself into sleeps riddled with nightmarish possibilities of her missing child's fate. Very tragic," Shanks said in a casual tone that belied he had long since become accustomed to tragedy. "That happened in what was likely the mid-fifties. He fell down there during a time of ignorance when people would walk along the tree line on a daily basis, so his fall was witnessed from a distance, and then everyone who was bored flooded down there to get in on the action. Since that encompasses just about all of us, the latecomers on the outer rim of the crowd began looking around at other things instead. That was when they discovered a cluster of rocks to be more than a mere cluster of rocks. Of course we all passed it off as either a landscaping decision or the consequence of drunk hunter before the vineyard's time. That is, until we saw them glow. Due to the reaction in 1969, myself and others in positions of leadership have kept this new glow on a need-to-know basis. We don't want to scare the children or give our resident doomsayers more to moan about day after day. Rays of sunshine, they are."

Sanji would not be dissuaded by Shanks' intentional long-windedness. "And the first person to ever disappear was the daughter of the man who founded the vineyard?"

"And built the manor, aye. Cobra was his name, and his daughter was Vivian, so the story goes. This place was like any other before that happened."

"Can you tell me about that day?"

"I have told all that I know to your cousin, whom I assume has passed it on to you." Shanks turned on the fountain to look toward the direction of the town they could not see from their position. "Are you forming your own ideas about it now?"

Sanji pressed his fingertips together in his lap and spoke slowly. "I think that in order to figure out the instances that changed history and how they worked, you have to start looking at an earlier point, and from there retrace the footsteps of those directly involved."

"How early are you thinking?"

Sanji looked around himself at the courtyard they sat in. "I'd love to go back as far as the manor's construction, but I'll accept as early as I can get. I understand why Zoro's had so much trouble figuring all this out. I've started feeling it myself. When I saw a transparent woman pour herself coffee in my kitchen this afternoon I was ready to run for the hills, but now I'm sitting under an invisible barrier in a rainstorm being colloquial with you while wraith-things tear my house to pieces and my cousin searches for a seventeen year old who had his death certificate signed 80 years ago. And this already feels no where near as unnatural to me as it should. The more accustomed we become to the unusual, the less surreal everything appears. Zoro and I haven't gotten an explanation for ANY of this yet, but we accept it as truth. Hell, Zoro's been doing this since we first pulled up the driveway. He's probably walked past dozens of clues with no double-takes. Because translucent undead people with superpowers are casting spells on everything, we can't recognize what's truly out of place."

Shanks laughed. "That's sort of funny."

"Hysterical," Sanji deadpanned.

"It's the very definition of irony."

Sanji rolled his eyes. "You aren't even taking this seriously."

Shanks took a deep breath and let it out with a smile. "Not true," he amended. "But you've got to have a sense of humor, son. You can't lose that. You have to laugh when things start to get really bad, or you'll lose yourself to stress and anger. I smile, but I do take this seriously, and I feel for what you're saying. You must remember I've been going through this for a lot longer than you have, so I've taken a handle over it and deal in my own way."

Sanji slumped again. "Hm. Well, maybe you can tutor me on that soon--coping with the hopelessness and sorrow in these places will be hard. I can feel it--misery and pain. reaching from the ground beneath us. It's heavy. For me, anyway. Not sure about Zoro."

"'These places', you say?"

Sanji worried the soft fabric of his sleeve between this fingers. He was diligent about it, looking nowhere else as he talked.

"I was talking to Zoro earlier, telling him that this isn't the first time in history that a vast number of people have simply vanished at once. And people still disappear all the time from the same places again and again over the course of centuries and no one knows what's happening. Like the Bermuda Triangle. This place is the closest I think anyone's ever gotten to understanding those things. So whatever is happening here isn't unique. I don't believe that Homecoming Hill is confined to Homecoming Hill."

"Do you mean there's more than one Hill, or whatever is here now used to be somewhere else, or this place is just a small part of a bigger entity that's spread it's wings out to the odd corners of the world?"

"I don't know. Any of them, all of them maybe. Or it could even be a footprint. The mark left behind by an event that happened here, or by something that passed through when the vineyard was new."

Shanks looked back at the house. "Having seen so many things here, I can't be quick to discount anything completely. But I do think that in this, you are wrong."

"How do you know? If whatever went down was major enough it could have left behind some seriously nasty residue."

"I just don't believe that's what's happening here."

"Why not?"

Shanks unwrapped an arm from Kuina and pointed to the house. "Because it's still waiting to fix the manor."

"…Oh." Sanji's shoulder's slumped. "Oh."

"It's intelligent, Sanji. It does not need eyes to watch nor ears to hear with. But it knows jealously. It is cruel and interactive. It can even punish."

Sanji sat up slowly. "Punish… punish you?"

"Aye."

"For what?"

Shanks said nothing.

Sanji glanced around awkwardly. "For what, Shanks?"

Shanks ran his hand over Kuina's back when she stirred, and she fell quiet again.

"Take care, boy," Shanks thought to him. "You are not as immune as Zoro is to the Hill's observations."

"I get it," Sanji frowned. "You can't talk about it. Zoro told me there were things like that."

"Aye. Sometimes for merely speaking of those unspeakable things, we feel it. I've only ever seen warnings, but I know it can do more. I've been in clandestine discussions about the Hill before--most of us have--wherein cold rushed up from the earth beneath our feet, icing the soil and winding around our bodies as the ferns and grass became silver and crystalline with frost in a matter of seconds. We heed these warnings, but we remember when we're on to something."

"Are past warnings what you use to gauge the fine line around how much you can tell us?"

"Mostly. We've learned to toe that line and even slip over it a little using metaphors and riddles, but you can only say so many things indirectly without becoming confusing. I figure there's a lot to keep track of here, because unless someone does something it doesn't like, it ignores us completely. When it focuses on something, we can feel the atmosphere become black and strangling, and thick with malice in that place. So we think--I think, anyway--that the Hill's attention mostly stays spread thin over everything, and if conversations are harmless at face value, it doesn't care to listen too closely."

"Hmm," Sanji noised.

"This is no residual phenomenon. Over this patch of earth rocks shift alone, tombstones conjure themselves, and air itself exhibits conscious behaviour. If you're still, you can feel it all around you. If you listen, you can almost hear it. Here; now. It breathes. It lives. Of this one thing all of us are certain."

"I thought you said it would sweep down upon us for being so forward in our talk."

Shanks' eyes stayed themselves on the manor cast in the shadows of night. "It would have," he agreed. "It should have, but I feel safe somehow. It's focusing on something bigger than me."

"The battle."

"Aye. Likely."

Wind battered the rain into sweeping torrents that reflected the light given off by Shanks as they sat, making the storm visible. Sanji watched these water sheets warily, as if suspicious that some giant black creature to emerge from them and attack. It occurred to him that if the battle inside did not end in their favor, there would be no sheltered place for his family to return to. The manor would be too dangerous for he and Kuina to reenter and Zoro could perhaps be trapped inside, forced to hide in the manor from the West Wingers and incapable of quick escape.

"I think it punished Luffy once," Shanks reminisced quietly, breaking the silence after a while. "Many, many years ago. Back when the stones were glowing the first time. I wasn't there, obviously, and no one can tell me to confirm my suspicion, but I know. I went to visit him at his glass door one evening, and he was changed. His eyes were filled with guilt and despair. From then on he was withdrawn. I saw him in his room all the time, and rarely did he receive visitors. He's acted like a prisoner for all these years, and he's his own warden. I gathered what I could from Ace--that something had happened to him, something had been done to him, and I don't think it was anyone else inside. I think it was the Hill that did it. And it worries me. Not just for then but for now. You see, I've noticed the Hill only actually physically interacts with one of us when it becomes aware of a serious or imminent threat to its existence. And the night my boy changed was the last night before the stones stopped glowing. Whatever it didn't like, it silenced."

"And now they've started glowing again," Sanji finished gravely, "right after Zoro made friends with your sons and started poking around. I understand."

Shanks nodded. "Hurting one of us is the wrong reaction for the Hill to make because of invaders. I sometimes wonder if what it feared so much wasn't my own son, himself."

"How do you think that could be? You said the threat was silenced."

"And it was. That's what makes it most likely. It wouldn't want to kill him. He's too powerful. A main food source. He carries within him a lot of starlight. An awful lot. The only way to defeat Luffy full stop is with a two-front attack his heart and his mind. Blackmail, fear, confusion, guilt. It's emotional trauma: the perfect recipe to brew self-punishment. He feels things so strongly--I know how susceptible he is. Perhaps the Hill does too."

Sanji returned his chin to his knee. "After hearing all I have, I'm curious to meet Luffy."

"He's a good boy," Shanks agreed nostalgically. "They both are. Just…depressed, I think. I feel they've been through more than possibly any of us."

Sanji's lips tightened. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you. Now," Shanks redirected, "These other places--the places like here--what interests do you have in them that may require you to learn coping skills?"

"I…I just have this feeling. A compulsion, sort of. Every time I think about the possibility of other places after this one, I can't sit still. No matter what distracts me, my mind won't stop coming back to it. Maybe it's only me."

Shanks looked the guarded boy up and down thoughtfully. Then he looked back at the manor.

"I've been trapped on this Hill for longer then most people will be alive. It's boring, and lonely, and painful. It's torture having my life stolen, my children locked away from me. I've never considered that there are other places like here, but your interest causes a compelling feeling overtake me. After seeing this hell, living it, I am changed. My won't be able to move forward until I know this evil is gone for good. Indeed, I may grow to find that this will be my purpose for as long as I am free and alive."

He looked back to Sanji. "Perhaps you will find that it is yours as well."

Sanji idly tugged on the toe of his slipper. "…I haven't been through what you have. I can't possibly share your drive."

"I don't believe that. You are a compassionate young man. Like your cousin, what you experience here will deeply effect you. After such a short time knowing of us and seeing what little you have, you're thinking and speaking aloud of possible other places with a note of decision in your voice. In your heart, a commitment you're not ready to inform others of has already taken form. You're not as forward about it as Zoro, and it's certainly not tattooed on your arm, but you possess a heroic nature. Helping those in need is a personal virtue you value in yourself."

Sanji rubbed his hands over his damp jeans to heat them. "I don't mind living a quiet life, but I'm not a teacher or a coach. I'm not a doctor, or a councilor. I manage hotels. Hardly an inspiring career choice. It's a job that will one day make me reflect and wonder whether in my life I made a difference for anyone." His hands slowed to a stop mid-thigh and he craned his neck to watch the top of the looming house. On all levels a window or two looked back where a shutter had been ripped off by the wind and fallen to the brick drive path below. "I don't really want to be here. It's not my idea a picturesque destination spot, and it's sure as hell not a desired hobby. The idea of doing anything like this again eventually is less than tempting. But it's important."

Shanks felt oddly proud of the boy beside him. _"You're not alone in your thoughts,"_ he projected to him._ "If I ever do escape from this place and all that's happened here, I could never go back to my life as it was. That life is gone now, and I'm sure you feel the same way. The way you view this world, magic, people around you, and the very history of the ground you walk on will be changed forever. You'll never stand alone in a room again without wondering whether or not you're really by yourself. Mere shadows and starlight are now anything but. Our fates were sealed when we first stepped onto this land, and we will be drawn to fight until either it is gone, or we are. This will not be over once Homecoming Hill falls. You haven't abandoned us--I won't abandon others."_ He glowered at the manor in the darkness._ "If there are other 'Hills', they will have an enemy in me. They will not thrive without adversity. I'll see to that."_

He watched Sanji adopt a pensive quietness that showed no sign of quick departure. The boy was aware of the danger, and, like his cousin, was ready to meet it head on. Shanks considered something he'd been pondering telling the boys for days, and reached a decision. "You know, Sanji, the best way to examine something is to see it with your own eyes. To best understand a pinpoint in history, you must be present for it. None of our powers encompass such a talent as time travel, but if you're commited to this and ready to see it, I know a couple of people who can give you the next best thing."

* * *

**AN**: Ok, the quotation marks are back. Don't know why they disappeared in the upload... Anyway, I meant for more to happen here, but the Sanji and Shanks scene ended up having more to say than I thought it would. So next chapter will (hopefully) answer a lot of questions.


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